Constitution of the Region of Canada

Article I – Elections

1. Calendar. Elections shall be held every three calendar months. Elections shall commence during the months of March, June, September and December. Elections shall be announced, and the campaign threads opened, at least one week prior to the voting period. A copy of the election schedule shall be maintained in the forum calendar. They shall take place on the Regional off-site Board. The elections shall elect members to Cabinet, as outlined in Article II.

2. Voting Period. The voting period of elections shall commence at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the last Thursday of the month, and end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the following Sunday.

3. Right to Vote. Subject to paragraph 4, all leaders of nations residing within Canada, regardless of UN status, shall be entitled to vote.

4. One Vote per Member. Notwithstanding paragraph 3, leaders of more than one nation within Canada shall be restricted to a single vote.

5. Eligibility to Vote. Only those members who are registered as members of the regional off-site board when the polls open shall be entitled to vote. Members who register after the polls open, shall not be able to vote until the next set of elections takes place in three months time.

6. Declaring Candidacy. Candidates must announce their intention to run for Cabinet at least 24 hours before the polls open.

7. Uncontested Positions. In cases where only one candidate is running for a cabinet position, a Vote of Confidence shall be used instead of a normal vote. Should a minister fail the Vote of Confidence, the position will be filled in accordance with Article II, paragraph 3 of this constitution.

8. Ties in Elections. Where there is a tie, the Prime Minister shall have a tie-breaking vote. The Prime Minister shall not otherwise be entitled to vote in an election.

9. Delegacy Exempt. It is acknowledged that regional elections shall have no effect on the selection of Canada’s Regional Delegate. It is acknowledged that the Regional Delegate shall continue to remain elected by virtue of the processes in place at the www.nationstates.net website.

Article II – Cabinet Portfolios

1. Cabinet Portfolios. The following positions shall make up the cabinet. Each noted position shall have the duties (portfolio) listed herein;

1. Minister of Defence
   The Minister of Defence shall be responsible for readying Canada’s nations for military roles, whether it be in defence of the region, or in a military or occupational struggle in other regions. The Minister of Defence shall be given administrative privileges on the regional off-site board.
   
   The Minister of Defence shall be the director of the Canadian Regional Defense Force (hereby called the CRDF), and shall at all times be a member of good standing to the CRDF. The Minister of Defence shall be responsible for amassing foreign military and civilian intelligence.
   
   The Minister of Defence shall recommend military actions. Such actions shall be adopted by Canada upon approval of cabinet.
   
   
   
2. Minister of Doughnuts and Beer
   The Minister of Doughnuts and Beer shall be responsible for the preservation of Canadian culture. The Minister of Doughnuts and Beer shall roam the region and promote unique aspects of Canadian culture. The Minister of Doughnuts and Beer shall be expected to make one post per week on a cultural topic, such as a review of a specific beer, or assessment of local doughnut chains.
   
   
   
3. Minister of Foreign Affairs
   The Minister of Foreign Affairs shall be responsible for maintaining and establishing diplomatic ties with other regions. If the Minister so wishes, the Minister may establish embassies and hire ambassadors to other regions at Nation States, subject to the approval of cabinet.
   
   The Minister of Foreign Affairs shall assist the Minister of Defence with the coordination of the CRDF.
   
   
4. Minister of Justice
   The Minister of Justice shall draft laws and UN resolutions at the request of Cabinet, or on its own initiative. All UN resolutions drafted may be listed for proposal without Cabinet approval or a vote. However, all laws drafted must be approved by a vote of the Cabinet. The Minister of Justice shall draft regional administration protocols and administer the regional dispute resolution tribunal. Subject to paragraph 5 and Article VI, all laws shall be adopted upon majority vote of the Cabinet.
   
   
   
5. Minister of Regional Affairs
   The Minister of Regional Affairs shall be in charge of communicating with all member nations of Canada. The Regional Affairs Minister shall inform member nations of events of significance, including, but not limited to, upcoming Regional votes.
   
   The Minister of Regional Affairs shall seek and gauge regional opinion on issues of importance based on both formal and informal polling methods. The Minister of Regional Affairs shall be responsible for the collection of domestic intelligence.
   
   The Minister of Regional Affairs shall be responsible for organizing all elections and referenda, as well as the maintenance of the Region’s election schedule in the forum calendar. The Minister of Regional Affairs shall be given administrator privileges on the regional off-site board.
   
   In addition to the responsibilities given in the above portfolio, the Minister of Regional Affairs shall also be responsible for the supervision of the Department of Immigration. The Department of Immigration will be responsible for the recruitment of new members and the greeting of members on both on the Regional off-site forum and the NationStates Regional Message Board for Canada.
   
   The Department of Immigration shall have two departments: Internal Immigration and External Immigration. Both of these departments will be overseen and administered by the sitting Deputy Minister of Regional Affairs. Accountability and ultimate responsibility will lie with the sitting Minister of Regional Affairs.
   
   
   
6. Prime Minister
   The Prime Minister shall be the sitting UN Delegate of the region, and shall be elected through the UN Delegate election mechanisms already in place at the www.nationstates.net website. The Prime Minister’s responsibilities shall be restricted to those responsibilities given to it at Nation States. The Prime Minister shall be given administrator privileges on the regional off-site board.
   
   The Prime Minister, in his or her capacity of UN Delegate, shall be required to post a forum thread, to give all nations in Canada a reasonable opportunity to express their individual viewpoints on all pending UN resolutions. For each UN resolution, the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister‘s delegate shall post a topic and poll in the regional forum to document the resolution, document the Prime Minister’s position on the resolution (if any), document the Prime Minister’s reasoning behind the position (if any), and review the input from all individual nations of Canada prior to voting on the said resolution. The Prime Minister, in his or her capacity as Delegate, shall be compelled to lodge its UN vote according to the majority of member nations as expressed in the UN poll on the regional forum. Only in case of a deadlock will the Prime Minister's vote be counted.
   
   The UN poll shall be open to all nations in Canada, regardless of their UN status, subject to the following constraint. Leaders of more than one nation in Canada shall be limited to a single vote.
   
   During each cabinet election, or after a change in the sitting UN Delegate, the voters shall be polled to approve or disapprove granting the Prime Minister administrator privileges for the current cabinet term.
   
   Should the vote of confidence poll not grant the Prime Minister administrator privileges, the Prime Minister's administrator responsibilities shall be assumed by the Minister of Regional Affairs (or in their absence any other forum administrator). The Prime Minister shall retain all other privileges applicable to their office.
   
   In the event of a change in the sitting UN Delegate of the region, the vote of confidence poll shall commence at 9:00 a.m Eastern Time on the first Thursday following the election of the new UN Delegate, and end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the following Sunday.

2. Deputy Ministers. Each Cabinet Minister must appoint a Deputy Minister as soon as possible. The Deputy Minister shall take the Minister's place on an interim basis should the elected Minister be unable to continue holding office.

Upon passing a Vote of Confidence, a Deputy Minister is then able to assume the role of the elected Minister and shall be granted the Minister's complete portfolio for the remainder of the current term, in the event that the elected minister is unable to fulfill his or her duties. The complete portfolio granted includes Admin and Cabinet status.

3. Vacancy in Cabinet. When a Minister fails to hold office and the Deputy Minister position is vacant, or should the vote of confidence poll not grant the interim Minister the permanent title and portfolio of Minister, the Prime Minister may appoint a Minister to fill the position. The appointment, including Cabinet status, is subject to majority Cabinet approval prior to assuming the title of the Minister position. Where there is a tie in a Cabinet appointment approval vote, the Prime Minister shall have a tie-breaking vote. The Prime Minister shall not otherwise be entitled to vote in a Cabinet appointment approval vote.

A Vote of Confidence poll shall be held for the appointed Minister in accordance with Article I; with the exception that the voting period shall commence at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the first Thursday following the appointment and end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the following Sunday.

Upon passing a Vote of Confidence, the appointed Minister shall be granted the Minister's complete portfolio (including Admin. status if applicable) for the remainder of the current term.

At the Prime Minister’s option, the Prime Minister may call a special election to fill the vacant Cabinet position in accordance with Article I; with the exception that the voting period of the special election shall commence at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the Thursday after the Prime Minister's call for special election, and end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the following Sunday.

4. One Cabinet Role. No person may hold more than one Cabinet position, whether it be under different nation names or not. Where a person finds themselves holding multiple Cabinet positions, they shall resign from all but one position. The Prime Minister shall appoint a Deputy Minister who shall assume the position of Minister and Cabinet member until the next election. At the Prime Minister’s option, the Prime Minister may call a special election to fill the vacant Cabinet position.

5. Legislative Process. Cabinet shall have the right to pass laws for the region.

1. No law will be enacted without providing the region an opportunity to comment on proposed legislation.
   
2. Cabinet shall not be entitled to pass or enact any law that is in conflict with the provisions of this constitution.
   
3. All laws will be enacted upon achieving the support of a majority of Cabinet members.
   
4. All laws may be repealed or amended by majority vote of the Cabinet, after the region is given the opportunity to comment.

Article III – Deputy Ministers

1. Responsibility. A Deputy Minister is directly responsible to the Minister who appointed him or her and may be replaced by that Minister at any time.

2. Confirmation. Although Deputy Ministers are appointed by a Minister, the region must approve the selection through a Vote of Confidence.

When a Deputy Minister is selected, he or she shall immediately be required to pass a Vote of Confidence. The Vote of Confidence poll shall be held in accordance with Article I; with the exception that the voting period shall commence at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the first Thursday following the selection and end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the following Sunday.

3. Duties. A Deputy Minister will be assigned specific duties as required by the responsible minister and have the following additional responsibilities and rights within the Cabinet.

1. Upon passing a Vote of Confidence (paragraph 2), Deputies will be admitted into cabinet to view non-sensitive discussions. Sensitive discussions are defined as information that contains 1) details of another region's cabinet, 2) information which violates personal details (e-mail, IP addresses, etc), or 3) would jeopardize Canada's relationship with other regions.
   
2. Deputies will provide feedback to corresponding ministers about the cabinet discussions.
   
3. Deputies may suggest to Ministers how to vote on issues raised in cabinet, but may neither vote nor view voting.
   
4. All cabinet discussions are subject to Cabinet Disclosure Legislation.

Article IV - Recall of Ministers

1. Right to Recall and Mechanism. Any member of Canada has the right to create a petition requesting a recall vote of an individual Minister. Petitions must be created in the Citizen's Voice forum. Region members may not sign the petition more than once no matter how many nations they have in Canada. Should a Region member sign a petition more than once, the Prime Minister shall declare the signatures recorded by the offending member null and void. A valid signature post must begin with "I support this petition".

2. Petition to Recall. Petitions will endure for seven days from the creation date. To be successful a petition must collect enough approval signatures of members to be in excess of 2/3rds of the members that voted for the Minister in the last election. For ministers who received a Vote of Confidence (Article I, paragraph 7), the number of signatures must exceed 2/3rds of the number of affirmative votes in the Vote of Confidence. If by the eighth day the petition has not collected the required number of signatures, the petition thread will be closed and locked and no recall vote will be held. If a petition is successful, the Prime Minister will close and lock the petition and prepare a forum to hold the recall vote.

3. Voting for Recall. If the petition has gathered enough valid approval signatures, the Prime Minister (who is not subject to the recall process) shall be responsible for organizing the recall vote. Constitutional process for voting in elections shall be applied to the recall vote. With the exception that the voting period for the recall shall commence at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the first Thursday following the locking of a successful petition, and end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the following Sunday.

4. Results of Recall. Should the recall vote approve the removal of the Minister, the Minister shall forfeit their portfolio and shall be removed from the Cabinet. The vacancy created shall be filled in accordance with Article II, paragraph 3.

Article V - Delegacy Contention

While it is recognised that every UN nation in the region of Canada has the right to run for the position of regional delegate, it is also recognised that the region has the right protect its constitutional rule.
In doing so, certain criteria need to be met to warrant a legal delegacy contention.

1. Any UN nation residing in Canada, that is also a member of the offsite forum, and recognizes the role of delegate as defined by The Constitution of Canada has the right to run for the Delegate position.

2. Any UN nation that gains fifty percent of the current Delegate's endorsement count shall be notified by the Canadian Minister of Regional Affairs that a statement of intent must be posted on the on the Canadian forum in the Prime Ministers section of the forum.

3. The said nation will receive no less than two personal messages and telegrams in a twenty-four hour period explaining that they must state their intent. If said nation stays below sixty percent of the current Delegate's endorsement count and remains silent or declares their intention, they shall not be ejected.

4. Any nation that fails to state their intent on Canada's regional off site forum and holds sixty percent or more of the current Delegate's endorsement count shall be considered a hostile force and immediately ejected from the region.

5. Any nation that states that they are not interested in becoming Delegate yet continues to gain in endorsements above sixty percent of the current Delegate's endorsement count may, according to the Canadian Ejection and Board Suspension Guidelines, be considered a hostile force and immediately be ejected from the region.

6. Any nation ejected may appeal the decision using the Canadian Ejection and Board Suspension Guidelines or Dispute Resolution Law.

Article VI - Amending Formula

1. Amending the Constitution. This Constitution shall only be amended upon a resolution sponsored by a member of Cabinet, which achieves:

1. Majority support in a Cabinet Vote; and
   
2. Majority support in a special referendum of all regional members, in accordance with the rules of Article I above.

2. Minor Revision Amendment. With unanimous support in a Cabinet Vote, spelling, grammatical, typographical, and punctuation errors may be amended in constitutional or regional legislation.