Prime Minister Stephen Harper's smiling mug can be seen on his official website, www.pm.gc.ca

The head of the Canadian government is known as the Prime Minister. Right now the PM is Mr. Stephen Harper.

Even though you don't elect the PM directly, the flyers you get in the mail during the election make it seem like you do.

In the Parliament section I explained how the Prime Minister is chosen. Just to summerize, he is not elected directly by the people, but rather is the leader of the politicial party with the most seats in the House of Commons.

Canada's federal government is highly centralized, and the Prime Minister holds an enormous amount of power over parliament and the lawmaking process. It's often said that the Prime Minister of Canada is one of the most powerful offices found in any western democracy.

The Prime Minister's main job is to get his agenda through the House of Commons and the Senate, which he does in his capacity as leader of the majority party in parliament. The PM controls the Members of Parliament from his party, who almost always vote in accordance with his wishes. As party leader, he's the man in charge of keeping his caucus united. When MP's disobey, he is in turn able to kick them out of the party or implement various other kinds of disciplinary action to punish them.

Prime Minister Harper answers a question during a session in Parliament. All the cabinet ministers sit in the area around him and applaud wildly whenever he finishes talking.

The Prime Minister's duties go beyond Parliament however. As leader of the cabinet, the PM is the guy who formulates most executive branch policy as well. In Canada a lot of laws and decisions are made solely by the Prime Minister, with parliament having no role at all. Foreign policy, for example is made solely by the PM, and it is he and he alone who holds the power to decide whether or not Canada goes to war. The Prime Minister can likewise decree things into law by making what are called an "orders in council." Orders in council are laws that temporarily bypass parliament, with the intent that eventually they will be formally passed into law someday. These decrees are supposed to be made by the cabinet as a collective, but it's the PM gets to actually determines what "the cabinet" has decided.

It's often argued that the Prime Minister's greatest powers of all come from his powers of appointment. Along with every member of cabinet, the PM gets to appoint the Senate, the Supreme Court, the Governor General, the Cabinet, the deputy ministers, the heads and board members of state-run companies, and thousands of other officials. These decisions don't need to be ratified by parliament, the cabinet, or anyone else, either.

SPECIAL SIDEBAR: The PM's inauguration

The Prime Minister of Canada is sworn in only once in his entire career, no matter how many elections he wins. The new PM takes the oath in Rideau Hall, the Governor General's mansion. He is sworn in by the Clerk of the Privy Council, and is required to read an oath to the Queen which the clerk holds in front of him. Here we see Prime Minister Stephen Harper being sworn in on February 6, 2006. The Governor General watches in the background.

Overall, as the nation's chief politician, the PM is held responsible for the actions of the entire federal government, and is largely credited with any success or failures that the government produces during his time in office.

There are no term limits for the Prime Minister, so he can stay in office as long as he can keep getting elected. Prime Ministers resign from office when they get bored or tired, but also when it seems that their party no longer supports them. You see, every so often the political parties have national conventions and "review" their leader through a vote. If the leader loses a vote, he can be repalced by someone else. Since this would be highly embarassing, most Prime Ministers resign long before they become so unpopular that their party deposes them. This is how recent Prime Minister Jean Chretien left. In 2003 it became clear that his party was growing sick of him, and Chretien knew that in the next Liberal Party convention his party would probably vote him out. Rather than face this, he simply resigned.

When a Prime Minister dies or resigns, there is no person who is automatically "second in line" to replace him. There is a "Deputy Prime Minister," but despite his title, he only replaces the PM during a temporary absence, not a permanent one. When the PM does suddenly leave office, the Prime Minister's political party must call an emergency leadership race, elect a new leader, and that leader in turn becomes the new Prime Minister of Canada. This means that it is possible to have a Prime Minister that has never been elected by the people of Canada. Canada has had nine Prime Ministers who have "inherited" the position in this manner. Of those nine, only two would go on to be elected. Appointed Prime Ministers are usually a sure sign that the ruling party is in trouble, and that the old Prime Minister did not want to hang around and get creamed in the next election.

OTHER RANDOM PRIME MINISTER FACTS

• Prime Ministers are refered to by the title "The Right Honourable," as in "The Right Honourable Stephen Harper."
• The official residence of the Prime Minister is located at 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa.
• The Prime Minister's Office (the "PMO") is located in the east wing of the parliament buildings and is known as the "corner office."

Go on to the bios of Canada's Prime Ministers