Canada

House of Commons

Political system
Parliamentary system
Structure of parliament
Bicameral
IPU membership
Yes

About parliament

Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.

Parliament name
Parliament of Canada - Parlement du Canada
Chamber name
House of Commons
Structure & status of parliament
Lower chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
4

Notes: Subject to an earlier dissolution of Parliament, a general election must be held on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election.

IPU membership

Affiliation periods
from 1912 to 1932
from 1960
IPU Geopolitical Group/s
Asia-Pacific Group
Twelve Plus Group

Notes: Geopolitical group affiliation in case of elections: Twelve Plus Group

Speaker

Official title
Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker
Greg Fergus (Male)
Date of birth: 31 May 1969
Term
03 Oct 2023
Additional information

Elected on 3 Oct. 2023.

Speaker terms

Click for historical data

Notes: A Speaker is elected as the first item of business at the start of each Parliament, and presides over the House for the life of the Parliament. When Parliament is dissolved, the Speaker is deemed to remain in office for administrative purposes until a new election takes place.

Secretary general

Official title
Clerk of the House of Commons
Secretary General
Eric Janse (Male)
Term
13 Dec 2023
Notes

Appointed on 13 Dec. 2023.

Members

Statutory number of members
338
Principal mode of designation of members
Directly elected
Directly elected members
338
Current number of members
336
Men
233
Women
103
Percentage of women
30.7%
Statutory number of members per country 
443
Population (in thousands)
39,299
Inhabitants per parliamentarian
88,711

Age

Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at the start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature, except when parliament notifies the IPU of a change in the youngest or oldest member.

Average age of all members
51.9
(2021-11)
Youngest member
Eric Melillo (Male)
Youngest member (years)
23
Oldest member
Hedy Fry (Female)
Oldest member (years)
80
Number of members, by age (2021-11)
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Male 0 5 29 27 27 80 35 12 0 0 215
Female 0 3 15 14 16 27 15 3 0 0 93
Totals per age interval 0 8 44 41 43 107 50 15 0 0 308
Total <= 45: 93 Total >= 46: 215
Percentage of members, by age
Age at the last election or renewal Overall Male Female
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger
2.6% 1.6% 1.0%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger
16.9% 11% 5.8%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger
30.2% 20% 10.4%
Members for whom age data is not available
30
(2021-11)

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups
No
Electoral quota for women
Yes

Notes: Voluntary political party quotas.

Sources: https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/gender-quotas-database/country?country=40

Youth quota
No

Links to additional information

Parliamentary website
List of members
Rules of procedure/Standing Orders
Constitution

Historical data for IPU membership

Historical data for IPU membership
Year IPU membership
2020-09
List of values for 2020-09
No
2019-04
List of values for 2019-04
No
2018-06
List of values for 2018-06
No