Members of the Executive Council are referred to as ministers of the Crown, which is not equivalent to being a Cabinet minister; their appointment as members of the Council gives them the authority to exercise executive power. Most members of the Executive Council are Cabinet ministers, but some are appointed as so-called "minister outside Cabinet"; they are still members of the Executive Council but not of Cabinet. By constitutional convention, only members of Cabinet advise the governor-general through the Executive Council. Ministers outside Cabinet traditionally hold minor portfolios, or serve as associate ministers, with carefully specified powers and responsibilities delegated to them by relevant portfolio ministers.