Canada and the U.S. are both considered federalist countries. This means that each country contains one national government and several other sub-national governments, each possessing separate policymaking powers. Federalism can be contrasted to a unitary state like France where there is just one national government. In the case of Canada, there are 10 provinces, and in the case of the U.S., there are 50 states.
Before Canada and the U.S. declared independence, they were both British colonies. While American revolutionaries broke off from the British empire in 1776, Canada remained a British colony until roughly 1867. Canada inherited the parliamentary system from Britain and became a constitutional monarchy. This means that political power is shared between the Head of State, currently King Charles III, and the Head of Government, who is the Prime Minister elected by Parliament. Since the monarch lives overseas in England, they appoint a Governor General who fulfills a number of important tasks in Canada such as swearing in the elected Prime Minister, granting Royal Assent to policy (final confirmation of legislation into law), and dissolving parliament for snap elections.
