A member of Parliament (post-nominal letters: MP; , ) is an elected politician who serves in the House of Commons of Canada, the lower house of the Parliament of Canada.
Terminology The term's primary use is in reference to the members of the House of Commons. In legislation, it can also refer to the members of the Senate of Canada, but in common usage, the title senator () is typically used. By contrast, no such alternate title exists for members of the House of Commons. A less ambiguous term for members of both chambers is parliamentarian.
MPs each represent an individual electoral district, also known as a constituency or riding. MPs are elected using the first-past-the-post system in a general election or by-election, usually held every four years or less. In contrast, the 105 members of the Senate are appointed by the Crown on the advice of the prime minister.
Representation Seats are distributed among the provinces in proportion to population, as determined by each decennial census, subject to the following exceptions made by the Constitution of Canada. Firstly, the "Senate floor" guarantees that each province will have at least as many elected MPs as senators. Secondly, the "grandfather clause" guarantees each province has at least as many seats now as it had allocated in the 1985 Representation Act.
Following the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution, the number of members is 343.
Oath and affirmation The oath for members of Parliament has stood the same since Confederation; according to Section IX.128 of the Constitution Act, 1867: "Every member of the Senate and the House of Commons of Canada shall before taking his Seat therein take and subscribe before the Governor General or some Person authorized by him, and every Member of a Legislative Council or Legislative Assembly of any Province shall before the Lieutenant Governor of the Province or some Person authorized by him, the Oath of Allegiance contained in the Fifth Schedule to the Act." The oath set out in said schedule is: I, [name], do swear, that I will be faithful and bear true Allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria, with the further instruction that "the name of the King or Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the Time being is to be substituted from Time to Time, with Proper Terms of Reference thereto." The oath reads as follows: Or in French:
For those parliamentarians whose religion prohibits the swearing of oaths, there exists a compromise affirmation, first instituted in 1905:
Number of members Parliament(s)Years# of Ridings+/–1st1867–18721802nd1872–1874200 203rd, 4th1874–1882206 65th1882–1887211 56th, 7th1887–1896215 48th, 9th1896–1904213 210th1904–1908214 111th, 12th1908–1917221 713th, 14th1917–1925235 1415th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th1925–1949245 1021st1949–1953262 1722nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th1953–1968265 328th, 29th, 30th1968–1979264 131st, 32nd, 33rd1979–1988282 1834th, 35th1988–1997295 1336th, 37th1997–2004301 638th, 39th, 40th, 41st2004–2015308 742nd, 43rd, 44th2015–2025338 3045thSince 2025343 5
Privileges Parliamentarians enjoy parliamentary privilege, as derived from common law.
In 2024, the annual salary of each MP was 203,100. Members may receive additional sums by virtue of other positions or functions they hold, such as that of Prime Minister, Speaker of the House or a minister of the Crown.
See also Member of parliament
References
External links List of current House of Commons members