联邦大选专栏（I）：从政府到议会

加国与中国的政治系统截然不同。加国政府分为三级，各级政府各司专责。在联邦大选即将到来之际，Bob Mok的专栏文章可以帮助我们深入了解包括政府和议会的加国政治系统。

Canada has a much different political system than China. There are three levels of government and each plays different roles and responsibilities. As federal election approaches, Bob Mok’s columns take an insight look at the Canadian political system – from the government to parliament.

对于许多移民来说，他们对加国政治系统最初的认识和了解都是来自于使用“公民指南”备战的入籍考试。这本名为《了解加拿大:公民的权利与责任》的入籍考试指南是由联邦政府发布，既有纸质版也有电子版。

For many immigrants, their first knowledge and understanding of the Canadian political system come from their preparation for citizenship test using the “Citizenship Guide”. The book - “Discover Canada: The rights and responsibilities of citizenship” is published by the Government of Canada in both paper and electronic format.

由于移民没有投票权，因此也就不能在所有三级政府的选举中担任候选人。从表面上看，他们似乎没有必要了解加国政治系统。但实际上在申请入籍之前了解相关知识，以便能够向适当的官员和部门寻求帮助解决与人们日常生活息息相关的问题，会让移民获益匪浅。

Immigrants do not have voting rights and cannot be a candidate for election in all three levels of government. Seemingly, it is unnecessary for them to learn about Canada’s political systems. Nevertheless, it would be beneficial to do so ahead of citizenship applications so that the proper officials and departments can be approached to assist in dealing with daily issues affecting everyone’s lives.

加国政府分为三级，分别是联邦政府、省政府和市政府。三级政府各自对分管领域负责。有时候，一些领域也会出现管辖权与职能重叠的情况。例如《加拿大卫生法案》是联邦立法，但卫生计划却是由各省执行。

There are three (3) levels of government in Canada – Federal, Provincial, and Municipal.Each one of these governments would deal with different areas of responsibilities. Sometimes, there are regions of overlapping jurisdictions and functions. For instance, the Canada Health Act is a Federal legislation but the administrations of Health plans are left to the individual provinces.

另一个实例就是移民领域。在加国是由联邦公民及移民部长监管负责移民、难民和公民问题的联邦政府部门。但令许多人感到困惑的是，在安省也有公民、移民及国际贸易部！实际上，联邦政府部门是负责处理和审批移民和难民申请，而安省政府部门则负责执行移民甄选机制和提供服务，以便让新移民成功实现经济和社会融合，使移民在最大程度上受益。

Another example will be the immigration area. There is a Federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to oversee the federal government department responsible for immigration, refugee and citizenship issues. What is confusing for many is that there is also a Ministry of citizenship, immigration and International trade in Ontario! In effect, the Federal government handles the processing and approval of immigrants and refugees while the Provincial government of Ontario implements an immigrant selection strategy and provides services for successful economic and social integration of newcomers, which maximizes the benefits of immigration.

加拿大的议会民主制是源自英国议会制。渥太华的众议院以及10个省份和三个地区的立法议会的议会成员都是通过选举产生。这些议会代表负责通过法律、批准和监督开支，并对政府进行监督。

Canada’s parliamentary democracyis an adaptation of the British Parliamentary system.Parliamentary members are elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa and to the 10 provincial and 3 territorial legislatures. Parliamentary representatives are responsible for passing laws, approving and monitoring expenditures, and keeping the government accountable.

下面让我们详细了解一下三级政府：

Let us look at the 3 levels of government:

1）联邦政府

1)Federal Government –

联邦政府是负责国家和国际事务、包括国防、外交、省际和国际贸易、货币制度、海运、刑法和公民等事务。联邦政府和省政府只在农业和移民领域拥有共同管辖权，其允许各省采纳适应本省人口特征的政策，并赋予各省灵活性以便其尝试新思路和新政策。

This level of Government is responsible for matters of national and international concern. These matters cover defence, foreign policy, interprovincial trade and communications, currency, navigation, criminal law and citizenship. In the areas of agriculture and immigration only, the federal government and the provinces share jurisdiction and allow different provinces to adopt policies tailored to their own demographics, and give provinces the flexibility to experiment with new ideas and policies.

联邦议会包括三个部分：君主（女王或国王），参议院和众议院。

The Federal Parliament consists of three parts: the Sovereign (Queen or King), the Senate and the House of Commons.

作为英联邦的成员国，加拿大的国家元首是英国女王伊丽莎白二世。但女王在加拿大的大部分皇家宪法职责和礼仪性职责都是由其代表人总督代为履行。

As a member of the British Commonwealth, Canada’s head of state is Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. Most of the royal constitutional and ceremonial duties in Canada are carried out by the Queen's representative, the Governor General.

参议员是指“上议院”的105名成员。他们是经总理提名由总督任命，一直服务到75岁。参议院的主要职责是审查和复议众议院提出和通过的立法法案（新法提案）。加国的所有法案都必须获得参众两院通过，再由总督代表女王御准通过后，才会成为法律。

Senators are 105 members of the “Upper house”. They are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister and serve until age 75. The Senate consider and review bills (proposals for new laws) after they are reviewed and passed by the House of Commons. No bill can become law in Canada until it has been passed by both chambers and has received royal assent, granted by the Governor General on behalf of the Sovereign.

而“下议院”或众议院的议会成员（国会议员）则是由加国的合格选民直接选举产生，通常选举是每四年进行一次，除非执政党倒台提前引爆大选（后面将加以详述）。目前加国有308名国会议员，但是在即将来临的10月联邦大选中，国会议员人数将会增至338名，而这是应对人口增长以及选区重划的必要之举。

The members of parliament (MP’s) in the “Lower House” or House of Commonsare directly elected by eligible Canadian voters, traditionally once every 4 years unless the ruling party is defeated (more about that later). There are currently 308 Parliament members but the numbers will increase to 338 in the upcoming Federal election in October this year. This is necessary to manage an increase in population as well as a redrawn of riding boundaries.

在下一篇文章中，我们将继续对加国政治系统加以了解。

We will continue in the next article in this series….