House of Commons of Canada

The House of Commons (French: Chambre des communes) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. The House of Commons is an elected body, of 343 members, who are known as Members of Parliament (MPs).  Members are elected for a maximum of four years at a time. Each member is elected by one of the country's federal electoral districts which are usually called ridings.

The House of Commons was established in 1867, when the British North America Act 1867  created the Dominion of Canada, and was modelled on the British House of Commons. The House of Commons is sometimes called the "lower house", even though it has more power than the "upper house", the Senate. Both Houses is must agree to new laws but the Senate very rarely rejects bills passed by the Commons (though the Senate does occasionally amend bills). The Government of Canada is responsible only to the House of Commons. The Prime Minister stays in office only as long as he or she has the support of the Lower House. 

The Canadian House of Commons is  in the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings on  Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, Ontario.

Unlike the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the powers of the Parliament of Canada are limited, because provincial legislatures have the sole right to pass laws about some things.

Until 1982 only the Parliament of the United Kingdom had the power to change the British North America Act, this was to protect the rights and powers of the provincial legislatures.  This was changed by the Canada Act.  In Canada the British North America Act is now called the Constitution Act. 

A lot of the work of the House of Commons is done by committees which can spend more time investigating a subject than the whole House of Commons could

Seat distribution

The table below shows how many seats each political party has in the Parliament. Many of the MPs were elected in the 2025 election.
PartySeatsVote share (%)Liberal169 43.8Conservative144 41.3Bloc Québécois22 6.3New Democratic76.3Green2 1.2Total343100%
Notes

List of committees
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development
Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics
Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canadian Heritage
Citizenship and Immigration
Environment and Sustainable Development
Finance
Fisheries and Oceans
Foreign Affairs and International Development
Government Operations and Estimates
Health
Human Resources, Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities
Industry, Science and Technology
International Trade
Justice and Human Rights
Liaison Committee
National Defence
Natural Resources
Official Languages
Procedure and House Affairs
Public Accounts
Public Safety and National Security
Status of Women
Transport, Infrastructure and Communities
Veterans Affairs

References

Canada
Category:Parliament of Canada
Category:1867 establishments in Ontario