Doncrest Public School's Canadian
Friends and Flags Web Site

By Ms. Harnum's Grade 5 Class

As part of our social studies unit on Canadian Government, Ms. Harnum's grade 5 class learned many things about the way the government is set up in Canada.  Canada is divided into 10 provinces and 3 territories.  Our government has 3 different levels that deal with the whole country, provinces and cities or towns in Canada.   We have a democratic government which means "government of the people".  Living under a democratic government means that everyone who is 18yrs. or older has a fair say and opportunity to give opinions about laws that are made and vote for people running in elections. 

The first level of government is called the Federal Level.  This level of government deals with all of Canada.  All of the meetings and law making take place in the capital of Canada, Ottawa which is in Ontario.  They meet in a large building called parliament building as shown in the picture below.  In our country, we have a leader for Canada.  He is called the Prime Minister and his name is Jean Chretien.  The Prime Minister and Govern General are two very important people to Canada's government.

The 2nd level of Government is the provincial level.  Each province has it's own smaller government that reports to the Prime Minister and his Federal Government.  The leader of each province and territory is called a Premier.  In the province of Ontario, where we live our Premier's name is Ernie Eves.  This smaller government is in charge of making decisions and laws for the good of the province.

The 3rd level of government is called the municipal level.  This level is even smaller than the provincial.  Within each province are many small towns and cities.  Each one has it's own leader called a "mayor" and a small group of people that make decisions for the good of the city.  Each mayor reports to their province's leader, the premier who will then report to the Prime Minister.  It  is done this way so that the Prime Minister is able to always know what is happening in each province and so that his decisions always represent the good of the whole country.

Home Page