Canadian House of Commons

House of Commons of Canada Chambre des communes du Canada
42nd Parliament
Type
Type	Lower House of the Parliament of Canada
Leadership
Speaker	Geoff Regan, Liberal Since 3 December 2015
Prime Minister of Canada	Justin Trudeau, Liberal Since 4 November 2015
Leader of the Official Opposition	Rona Ambrose, Conservative Since 5 November 2015
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons	Bardish Chagger, Liberal Since 19 August 2016
Opposition House Leader	Candice Bergen, Conservative Since 15 September 2016
Structure
Seats	338
Political groups	Government (182)      Liberal Party (182) Official Opposition (97)      Conservative Party (97) Third Party (44)      New Democratic Party (44) Other Parties (12)      Bloc Québécois (10)      Green Party (1)      Independent (1) Vacant (3)      Vacant (3)
Salary	$170,400 sessional indemnity effective 1 April 2016)
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	19 October 2015
Next election	21 October 2019
Meeting place
Centre Block – Parliament Hill Ottawa
Website
www.parl.gc.ca

Government (182)

Official Opposition (97)

Third Party (44)

Other Parties (12)

Vacant (3)

The House of Commons of Canada (French: Chambre des communes du Canada) is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign (represented by the Governor General) and the Senate. The House of Commons chamber is located in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

The House of Commons is a democratically elected body whose members are known as Members of Parliament (MPs). There were 308 members in the last Parliament (most members elected in 2011), but that number has risen to 338 following the election on Monday October 19, 2015. 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. 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 some special provisions regarding provincial representation. As a result, there is some interprovincial and regional malapportionment relative to population.