The model of our modern Parliament was developed in Great Britain. In fact, the roots of Canada's parliamentary system lie very much in British history. Originally, the British Parliament came into being in order to control the monarch's use of public funds. From the 13th to the 19th century the British Parliament struggled with the monarch on issues of who should control taxes, who should supervise public spending, and who should make the laws that governed the people - the monarch or the people's representatives. Over the centuries Parliament as an institution became supreme over the monarch, making democracy the real power behind how laws are made. In the British Parliament, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet gradually took more and more control over how laws are made, while the monarch took less and less control. In time, the monarch became more of a national symbol, or in other words, a ceremonial head of state who routinely approves of Parliament's decisions. In Canada today, the Queen and her representative, the Governor General, perform this symbolic duty in Parliament. They bring the traditions of British Parliament to Canada's Parliament.
