Cabinet of Canada
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The Cabinet of 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, the Cabinet is a committee of the King's Privy Council for Canada and the senior echelon of the Ministry, the membership of the Cabinet and Ministry often being co-terminal; as of November 2015 there were no members of the latter who were not also members of the former.
Governor General David Johnston, representing Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, with his newly sworn-in Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, part of the 29th Canadian Ministry (Elizabeth's 13th and last), at Rideau Hall, 4 November 2015
Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, with her Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, part of the 19th Canadian Ministry (Elizabeth's third), at Rideau Hall, 1 July 1967
A meeting of the Cabinet of William Lyon Mackenzie King in 1930
The 16th Canadian Ministry, headed by William Lyon Mackenzie King, on the grounds of Rideau Hall, 19 June 1945
The King's Privy Council for Canada, sometimes called His Majesty's Privy Council for Canada or simply the Privy Council (PC), is the full group of personal consultants to the monarch of Canada on state and constitutional affairs. Practically, the tenets of responsible government require the sovereign or his viceroy, the governor general of Canada, to almost always follow only that advice tendered by the Cabinet: a committee within the Privy Council composed usually of elected members of Parliament. Those summoned to the KPC are appointed for life by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister of Canada, meaning that the group is composed predominantly of former Cabinet ministers, with some others having been inducted as an honorary gesture. Those in the council are accorded the use of an honorific style and post-nominal letters, as well as various signifiers of precedence.
The Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council building is the seat of the Privy Council
Andrew Scheer, then leader of the opposition, being sworn into the Privy Council at Rideau Hall in 2017
Prince Edward (front row, fifth from left), at Rideau Hall, in Ottawa, two days after being appointed to the King's Privy Council for Canada
The first meeting of the Privy Council before the reigning sovereign; in the State Dining Room of Rideau Hall. Queen Elizabeth II is seated at centre, with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, to her left, and Prime Minister John Diefenbaker at her right; 14 October 1957.