There’s an election coming...
Now what?
So, what’s all the fuss about? Let’s start by discussing the political parties that are campaigning to be at the top of the game.
There are five parties that currently have elected Members of Parliament each with their own leader. That leader is gunning for the top spot: Prime Minister.
Down to the basics
A political party is an organized group of people who have the same ideology, that runs candidates in elections.
In Canada, there are more than 16 registered political parties, including one called the Rhinoceros Party.
Yes, REALLY. But Canadian federal politics are currently pretty much dominated by five major parties:
The Liberal Party
Leader, Justin Trudeau
The Conservative Party
Leader, Andrew Scheer
The New Democratic Party
Leader, Jagmeet Singh
The Bloc Quebecois
Leader, Yves-François Blanchet
The Green Party
Leader, Elizabeth May
Other parties include: Alliance of the North, Animal Protection Party of Canada, Christian Heritage Party of Canada, Communist Party of Canada, Libertarian Party of Canada, Marijuana Party, Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada, National Citizens Alliance of Canada, Parti Rhinocéros Party, People’s Party of Canada, Progressive Canadian Party.
Define: Campaigning
A fancy way of saying a group of people (i.e. political party) are coming together to influence a decision making process, like an election.
What’s important is to look at what the parties actually stand for, not just what they’re saying about everyone else.
Political parties are going to try and convince you to vote for them with ads that will make them and their leader look good, and other parties and leaders look bad. Its true that character matters. You wouldn’t hire someone you don’t trust, would you?
To make themselves stand out, parties will provide “party platforms,” basically a collection of policies and plans they’re pitching to you, just like a resume and cover letter. Party platforms are promises that parties intend to keep if they are elected Canada’s next government.
Look at party platforms to see if their policies and history matches up to what their leaders and candidates are saying, and reflects what issues matter to you.
Pro-tip
As you listen to the parties talk about their plans and consider the party platforms, ask yourself questions like:
a) How does their plan impact you? How does their plan impact other Canadians?
b) If they promise a new government program, how will it be paid for? 💸💸
c) If they promise tax cuts, where is the funding going to come from? 🤔🤔
d) How realistic do their plans seem? ⚠️⚠️
e) How specific are the plans? ⚠️⚠️
“Did you know?
Agnes Macphail loved being a woman of firsts. She was the first woman to be elected as a Member
of Parliament. Then, after losing re-election, she became the first woman - along with Rae Luckock - to be elected as a Member of Provincial Parliament.
“Most women think politics aren’t lady-like. Well, I’m no lady.”
- Agnes Macphail”
You are not voting for a Prime Minister on election day
In Canada, you vote for an individual candidate running to be a Member of Parliament (MP) for your area. Each area represents around 100,000 people and is known as a “riding” or “constituency.” Each candidate running in your area represents a different political party, or runs as an independent (no party). The candidate that gets the most votes wins. The political party that elects the most MPs normally becomes the government, and their leader becomes the Prime Minister. MPs of each party will vote together on the biggest issues, so it’s important to consider their party AND their leaders, along with who will become your local representative.
Political parties choose candidates for MP in a riding through local nomination meetings. Each member of the party in that riding gets to vote. Each party has their own rules (the fancy political word for this is “constitutions”) that outline how this is done.
DID YOU KNOW?
In Canada, MPs from the same political party vote together most of the time, more than any other parliamentary democracy in the world.
PRO-TIP
Anyone can join a political party but only 4% of Canadians do. If you do, you can vote in local nomination contests. More voice, more power.
However, many candidates run without any competition, so they just become the candidate automatically. This opens up the opportunity for party leaders to basically hand pick their favourite candidate.
Learn more in The Samara Centre for Democracy report “Party Favours”.
Thing to know:
There are 338 MP seats in the House of Commons, broken out by districts (AKA ridings) within Canada. If a party wins more than 50% of the seats, then it is a majority government. Every party wants this because it makes it much easier to get laws passed. If the winning party wins 169 seats or fewer (less than 50%), it forms a minority government. In order to get laws passed, a minority government has to collaborate with MPs of other parties and adjust policies as necessary.
FIRST PAST THE POST:
A voting system that means the person who gets the most votes in a riding gets a seat in Parliament, even if the number of votes doesn’t equal over 50% of the total votes. For example, let’s say there are 10 people running in your riding and 100 people voting. The winner doesn’t necessarily need 50 or more votes, they just need the most votes.