Canadian Citizenship Test: How Canada is governed practice questions

Split the roles before you answer: the Sovereign is head of state, the Governor General represents the Sovereign, and the Prime Minister is head of government. Parliament is the Sovereign, the Senate and the House of Commons. A bill needs both houses and royal assent.

Question 1

Canada's head of state and head of government are, in that order,

  1. the Sovereign, and the Prime Minister
  2. the Prime Minister, and the Governor General
  3. the Chief Justice, and the Speaker of the House
  4. the Premier of Ontario, and the Mayor of Ottawa

Answer: the Sovereign, and the Prime Minister

The Sovereign is the head of state and reigns under the Constitution. The Prime Minister is the head of government and directs it. The Governor General represents the Sovereign and is not the head of government. The Chief Justice heads the Supreme Court, and a premier or a mayor heads another order of government.

Question 2

Parliament consists of

  1. the Cabinet, the Supreme Court and the ten premiers
  2. the Sovereign, the Senate and the House of Commons
  3. the provincial lieutenant governors meeting as one house
  4. the mayors of the provincial capitals

Answer: the Sovereign, the Senate and the House of Commons

Parliament has three parts: the Sovereign, the Senate and the House of Commons. The Cabinet is the executive, drawn from Parliament, but it is not the definition of Parliament. Lieutenant governors and mayors are not the federal Parliament. The trap is to list the people who run departments and call that Parliament.

Question 3

Members of the Senate are

  1. elected by the voters of each riding
  2. chosen by a vote of city councils
  3. appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister
  4. elected by the members of the House of Commons

Answer: appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister

Senators are appointed by the Governor General on the Prime Minister's advice and hold office until age 75. Voters elect members of the House of Commons, not senators. City councils and the Commons do not elect the Senate. The usual trap is to apply the riding rule, which is for MPs, to senators.