In the U.S., the president is elected directly by the people and serves a full four-year term regardless of how low his popularity gets during his term in office, unless he is impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate. Only two U.S. presidents (Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton) have ever been impeached by House and neither has actually been convicted and removed from office by the Senate. Richard Nixon probably would have been removed from office, but he resigned instead.
In Canada, the people vote for political parties in parliamentary elections every four years, not individuals. Whichever party wins a majority of seats in parliament appoints the prime minister. The prime minister has no set term of office (other than mandatory parliamentary elections every four years, with the next scheduled for October 2012), but only serves as long as he maintains the support of a majority of parliament. If the prime minister introduces important legislation or a budget that is rejected by parliament, this rejection acts as a no-confidence vote in his leadership and he will typically call early elections (i.e., before the four-year parliamentary term is over) to resolve the dispute.
Canada has a president-like figure known as a "Governor General," but this is primarily a ceremonial post and the person is technically appointed by the Queen of England. Can you imagine?
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