Start with the local choice
A federal election may feel national, but your ballot is local. Canada is divided into electoral districts, also called ridings or constituencies. You vote for one candidate in your riding. You do not directly vote for the Prime Minister.
A useful memory chain is: home address, riding, candidate, MP, House of Commons. Try to say the chain without looking.
Candidate, MP and party are not the same thing
A candidate is a person running in an election. An MP is the winning candidate who represents an electoral district in the House of Commons.
Many candidates belong to political parties, but the name on the ballot is a person. The candidate who receives more votes than any other candidate in the riding wins the seat. The winner does not need more than half of all votes if several candidates divide the vote.
What makes the ballot secret?
Canadian law protects the secret ballot. No one may watch how you mark your ballot or require you to reveal your choice. You may tell someone how you voted if you want, but the decision belongs to you.
A secret ballot protects voters from pressure by an employer, union, relative, neighbour or public official. No one has the right to insist that you reveal your vote.
What happens after the votes are counted?
Every winning candidate becomes an MP. Each MP gives a political party one seat if that MP belongs to the party. The seats, not a separate direct vote for Prime Minister, determine who can form the government.
Ordinarily, the Governor General invites the leader who is most likely to have the confidence of the House of Commons to form a government. In most elections, this is the leader of the party with the most seats. Once appointed, that leader becomes Prime Minister.
A second memory chain is: winning candidates, seats, confidence of the House, government, Prime Minister.
Majority and minority government
A majority government exists when the governing party holds more than half of the seats in the House of Commons. It can normally pass confidence votes using its own MPs, provided they support the government.
A minority government exists when the governing party holds fewer than half of the seats. It must receive enough support from other MPs to survive important confidence votes. The difference is about seats, not the percentage of the national popular vote.
Government and opposition
The party or group that forms the government directs federal policy through the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Cabinet ministers usually lead federal departments and propose much of the government’s legislation and spending.
Parties that do not form the government sit in opposition. The opposition examines government decisions, asks questions and proposes alternatives. The opposition party with the most seats is the Official Opposition.
Federal election facts to connect
- Elector or voter: an eligible citizen who casts a ballot.
- Candidate: a person seeking election in a riding.
- Electoral district, riding or constituency: the local area represented by one MP.
- MP: the elected representative who sits in the House of Commons.
- Seat: one elected place in the House of Commons.
- Prime Minister: the head of government, not a person elected directly by all Canadians.
- Governor General: the Sovereign’s representative at the federal level, with a constitutional role in appointing a government.
- Official Opposition: the opposition party with the most seats.
Three common confusions
- Canadians directly elect the Prime Minister: not exactly. Voters elect local MPs. Government formation depends on which leader can maintain the confidence of the House of Commons.
- A party needs most of the national popular vote to form government: not necessarily. Seats are won riding by riding.
- Riding, constituency and electoral district are different institutions: in this context, they are three names for the same basic unit.
A note about changing numbers
The older online text of Discover Canada still mentions 308 electoral districts. A current Government of Canada democracy page lists 343 ridings. This is why changeable numbers and current officeholders should be checked on current official pages.
For the stable concept, remember that each federal riding elects one MP. For your citizenship test, use the copy of Discover Canada that IRCC provides and follow current IRCC instructions.
Five minute study drill
- Draw five boxes and label them riding, candidate, MP, seat and government.
- Connect them in the order an election works.
- Explain why Canadians do not directly elect the Prime Minister.
- Define majority and minority government using seats.
- Explain secret ballot in one sentence.
- Try five mixed practice questions, then finish with a 20 question timed test when you are ready.
Quick self check
- Who do you vote for in a federal election?
- What other words mean electoral district?
- Who represents a riding in the House of Commons?
- Does a winning candidate always need more than 50 percent of the vote?
- What makes a ballot secret?
- What is the difference between majority and minority government?
- Do Canadians directly elect the Prime Minister?
