CHAPTER 01 Introduction
In practice, Canadian federal and provincial governments often cooperate, by cost-sharing programs and delegation of authority, to create consistent national approaches for matters that are under provincial legislative jurisdiction. For example, there are national standards and federal funding for healthcare. Although provinces have constitutional authority to impose income taxes, all provinces, except Québec, delegate the collection of income taxes to the federal government, thus making income tax rules and procedures relatively uniform throughout Canada. Canada’s Constitution includes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms , which guarantees certain rights to individuals. Provincial and territorial governments also have legislation protecting individual rights and freedoms. Legal Structure All the provinces of Canada, except Québec, are common law jurisdictions, which derive their legal systems from British common law. Québec is a mixed common law/civil law jurisdiction in which private law matters, such as contracts and property, are governed by a civil code. Although Québec civil law is historically derived from France, today it is strongly influenced by Canada’s North American location and orientation. Canada tends to look to the United States rather than Europe for its regulatory models. For example, Canadian securities laws evolve in response to developments in the United States. Canada’s courts of general jurisdiction are provincially administered, but the Supreme Court of Canada acts as a court of final appeal for all of Canada. Although Canada also has a federal court system, its jurisdiction
is very limited compared with federal courts in the United States. The Canadian federal court system deals primarily with matters arising under Canadian federal statutes and claims against the federal government. Although all judges of provincial superior courts in Canada and judges of the Federal Court and Supreme Court, are appointed by the federal government, the independence of the judiciary is well established, and courts are not subjected to political interference or influence. Each province also has lower courts presided over by provincially appointed judges who hear less important cases. Economic System Canada is an affluent, high-tech industrial society with a market-oriented economic system and high living standards. Since World War II, the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining and service sectors has transformed the nation’s economy from largely rural to primarily industrial and urban. Given its natural resources, skilled labour force, stable political and economic systems and modern capital infrastructure, Canada enjoys solid economic prospects. Canada is a party to many multilateral and bilateral international trade and investment agreements. The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement has created close trade and economic integration between Canada and the United States (and to a lesser extent Mexico). Canada also has free trade agreements with other trading blocs and individual countries, such as the European Union and the European Free Trade Association, the United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Panama, South Korea, Vietnam, Israel, Ukraine, Jordan, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Honduras and Chile, and has entered into exploratory discussions and negotiations with additional countries.
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