House of Commons of Canada

House of Commons of Canada Chambre des communes du Canada
44th Parliament
Type
Type	Lower house of the Parliament of Canada
History
Founded	1867 (1867)
Leadership
Speaker	Greg Fergus, Liberal since October 3, 2023
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau, Liberal since November 4, 2015
Leader of the Opposition	Pierre Poilievre, Conservative since September 10, 2022
Government House Leader	Karina Gould, Liberal since July 26, 2023
Opposition House Leader	Andrew Scheer, Conservative since September 13, 2022
Structure
Seats	338
Political groups	His Majesty's Government   Liberal (153) His Majesty's Loyal Opposition   Conservative (119) Parties with official status   Bloc Québécois (33)   New Democratic (25) Parties without official status   Green (2)   Independent (4)   Vacant (2)
Salary	CA$194,600 (sessional indemnity effective March 31, 2023)[1]
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
First election	August 7 – September 20, 1867
Last election	September 20, 2021
Next election	On or before October 20, 2025
Meeting place
House of Commons Chamber West Block - Parliament Hill Ottawa, Ontario Canada
Website
www.ourcommons.ca
Constitution
Constitution Act, 1867
Rules
Standing Orders of the House of Commons (English, French)

The House of Commons of Canada (French: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.

The House of Commons is a democratically elected body whose members are known as members of Parliament (MPs). There have been up to 338 MPs since the most recent electoral district redistribution for the 2015 federal election, which saw the addition of 30 seats.^[2][3][4][5] Members are elected by simple plurality ("first-past-the-post" system) in each of the country's electoral districts, which are colloquially known as ridings.^[6] MPs may hold office until Parliament is dissolved and serve for constitutionally limited terms of up to five years after an election. Historically, however, terms have ended before their expiry and the sitting government has typically dissolved parliament within four years of an election according to a long-standing convention. In any case, an act of Parliament now limits each term to four years. Seats in the House of Commons are distributed roughly in proportion to the population of each province and territory. However, some ridings are more populous than others, and the Canadian constitution contains provisions regarding provincial representation. As a result, there is some interprovincial and regional malapportionment relative to the population.

The British North America Act 1867 (now called the Constitution Act, 1867) created the House of Commons, modelling it on the British House of Commons. The lower of the two houses making up the parliament, the House of Commons, in practice holds far more power than the upper house, the Senate. Although the approval of both chambers is necessary for legislation to become law, the Senate only occasionally amends bills passed by the House of Commons and rarely rejects them. Moreover, the Cabinet is responsible primarily to the House of Commons. The government stays in office only so long as they retain the support, or "confidence", of the lower house.

The House of Commons meets in a temporary chamber in the West Block of the parliament buildings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, while the Centre Block, which houses the traditional Commons chamber, undergoes renovation.