The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council. In both senses, the construct was established at Confederation, through the Constitution Act, 1867, as a constitutional monarchy, wherein the Canadian Crown acts as the core, or "the most basic building block," of the kingdom's Westminster-style parliamentary democracy. The Crown is thus the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government. Further elements of governance are outlined in the rest of the constitution of Canada, which includes written statutes, court rulings, and unwritten conventions developed over centuries.

In Canadian English, the word government is used to refer both to the institutions that collectively govern the country and to the reigning monarch, or her viceroy, in her current council; when used in the latter context, the word is usually capitalized to make the distinction. Thus, Canadians would say the 28th Ministry is the Government that currently administers the Canadian government. Contrasts can be drawn with the British usage — where the government is synonymous with the state — and the American usage — where the Government is synonymous with the administration.

Canada ( /ˈkænədə/) is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean. Spanning over 9,900,000 km² (3,800,000 sq mi), Canada is the world's second-largest country by total area, and its common border with the United States is the longest land border in the world.

The land that is now Canada has been inhabited for millennia by various Aboriginal peoples. Beginning in the late 15th century, British and French colonial expeditions explored, and later settled, along the region's Atlantic coast. France ceded nearly all of its colonies in North America in 1763 after the Seven Years' War. In 1867, with the union of three British North American colonies through Confederation, Canada was formed as a federal dominion of four provinces. This began an accretion of provinces and territories and a process of increasing autonomy; the Canada Act 1982 severed the vestiges of legal dependence on Britain.

Ella Jean Canfield (born October 4, 1918 in Westmoreland, Prince Edward Island) is a former Canadian politician. She was the first woman ever elected to the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island, as well as the first woman to serve in the Executive Council of Prince Edward Island.

Canfield originally stood for office in the 1966 provincial election in 1st Queens, but failed against incumbent Frank Myers. She then stood again in the 1970 election, and was successful. She was reelected in the 1974 election, but defeated in the 1979 election.

From October 10, 1972 to May 2, 1974, she served as Minister without Portfolio and Minister responsible for the PEI Housing Authority in the government of Alex Campbell.

In 2005, the Government of Canada announced that a new office building constructed in Charlottetown would be named the Jean Canfield Building.