Executive council (Commonwealth countries)

Executive councillors are informally called "ministers". Some executive councils, especially in Australia and the provinces and territories of Canada, are chaired by a President or a Vice-President. In other Commonwealth countries there is no formal president of the executive council, although meetings are held in the presence of the governor-general, governor or president (except in rare cases) and decisions require his or her assent.

These councils have almost the same functions as the privy councils in Canada and the United Kingdom, and decisions of the cabinet gain legal effect by being formally adopted by the executive council, if the cabinet itself is not also the executive council.

Current executive councils

Australia

• Australia: Federal Executive Council, the formal body holding executive authority under the Australian constitution.
  • New South Wales: Executive Council of New South Wales, the body which exercises the supreme executive authority in New South Wales.
  • Queensland: Executive Council of Queensland
  • Tasmania: Executive Council of Tasmania
  • South Australia: Executive Council of South Australia
  • Western Australia: Executive Council of Western Australia
  • Victoria: Executive Council of Victoria

Other Commonwealth Countries

• Canada: Executive councils in Canada (more commonly known as cabinets) are constitutional organs of the provinces; they are headed by the provincial lieutenant governor. Territories also have executive councils, which are headed by the territorial commissioner. At the federal level, the Cabinet is a subcommittee of the King's Privy Council for Canada.

• Isle of Man: The Council of Ministers of the Isle of Man is the executive body of the Isle of Man, formerly known as the Executive Council of the Isle of Man from 1949 to 1990.
• Nigeria: Federal Executive Council of Nigeria, an alternative name to the Cabinet of Nigeria.
  • State executive councils in Nigeria, name for the cabinets of Nigerian states.
• New Zealand: Executive Council of New Zealand, the body which serves the functions of the Cabinet in New Zealand.
• Papua New Guinea: National Executive Council of Papua New Guinea, an alternative name to the Cabinet of Papua New Guinea.
• Falkland Islands: Executive Council of the Falkland Islands, the policy making body of the Government of the Falkland Islands.