House of Commons of Canada

The House of Commons of Canada (French: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body whose members are known as members of Parliament (MPs). The number of MPs is adjusted periodically in alignment with each decennial census. Since the 2025 federal election, the number of seats in the House of Commons has been 343. 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 provisions regarding provincial representation. As a result, there is some interprovincial and regional malapportionment relative to the population. The British North America Act 1867 (now called the Constitution Act, 1867) created the House of Commons, modelling it on the British House of Commons. The lower of the two houses making up the parliament, the House of Commons, in practice holds far more power than the upper house, the Senate. Although the approval of both chambers is necessary for legislation to become law, the Senate only occasionally amends bills passed by the House of Commons and rarely rejects them. Moreover, the Cabinet is responsible primarily to the House of Commons. The government stays in office only so long as they retain the support, or "confidence", of the lower house. The traditional meeting chamber of the House of Commons is in the Centre Block of the Parliament Hill complex in Ottawa. However, as of 2025, Centre Block is undergoing renovations; the House of Commons is therefore meeting in a temporary chamber in the West Block of the complex.