{{Politics of Canada In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

, each political party with representation in the House of Commons has a House Leader who is a

front bench In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kn ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) and an expert in

parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedure is the accepted Procedural law, rules, ethics, and Norm (sociology), customs governing meetings of an deliberative assembly, assembly or organization. Its object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of interest ...

. The same representation is found in the provincial and territorial legislatures. The House Leader is in charge of the party's day-to-day business in the House of Commons of Canada (or provincial or territorial legislatures), and usually conducts negotiations with other parties on the conduct of bills and debates. They also argue

Points of Order In parliamentary procedure, a point of order occurs when someone draws attention to a rules violation in a meeting of a deliberative assembly. Explanation and uses In ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'' (RONR), a point of order may be rai ...

before the

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hunger ...

. The "House Leader" is not the same as the party leader, but is the leader's senior deputy for House business in Opposition parties, including the Official Opposition. The Government House Leader is a senior Cabinet minister who navigates the government's business in the House. This system is replicated in the various provincial

legislature A legislature is an deliberative assembly, assembly with the authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country or city. They are often contrasted with the Executive (government), executive and Judiciary, ...

s. The position of House Leader is especially important during periods of minority government where no one party has control of the House and bills can only be passed with the agreement of multiple parties. The

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as suc ...

and Leader of the Official Opposition originally had these responsibilities. In 1944, however, as a result of the increasing burdens placed on government by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Prime Minister

William Lyon Mackenzie King William Lyon Mackenzie King (December 17, 1874 – July 22, 1950) was a Canadian statesman and politician who served as the tenth prime minister of Canada for three non-consecutive terms from 1921 to 1926, 1926 to 1930, and 1935 to 1948. A L ...

delegated these responsibilities to another member of the

Canadian Cabinet The Cabinet of Canada (french: Cabinet du Canada) is a body of ministers of the Crown that, along with the Canadian monarch, and within the tenets of the Westminster system, forms the government of Canada. Chaired by the prime minister, th ...

. In 1946, the position of Government House Leader was formally recognized. The position of Opposition House Leader evolved in the 1950s as each Opposition party began to designate a particular MP to question the Government House Leader on upcoming House business. The title of Opposition House Leader became official in 1963, and in 1974, a special annual indemnity was attached to the position of House Leader in each of the opposition parties. Notable Opposition House Leaders include Stanley Knowles of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

and its predecessor, the

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialistThe foll ...

; Herb Gray of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a l ...

(also a Government House Leader); and Erik Nielsen of the Progressive Conservative Party. The office of House Leader has also been instituted at the provincial level, in the provincial legislative assemblies. The term House Leader has also been used to describe a party's parliamentary leader, who leads a political party in the House of Commons or a provincial legislature due to their either not being a party leader or the party leader not having a seat.

See also