2020 Election

[Truck_1_0_1_]

(08-07-2020, 03:47 PM)hollodero Wrote: The determination of leadership imho is not similar to the US. If I'm not mistaken, you do not vote for a president like the US does in the first place. I tried to read up a bit, and to me it seems the party with the most seats is asked to form a government, but that prime minister person always has to maintain confidence in the house... meaning, there will be a partner in a coalition, right, so there's a secure majority in the house?
And if so, regarding those four parties, are there traditional pairings or is it more like an all limits off coupling?
I have to ask for just found out is that you obviously also have one seat per electoral district, and yet more than two parties. As does GB, which I should have thought of as well.

I'll answer your points in numbered fashion :)

1. We do, trust me lol. If you asked any voter about our election last year, not a single person could tell you the person in their riding, but they could absolutely tell you who was the head of the party (Trudeau- Liberal, Scheer- Conservative, Singh- New Democrat, May- Green Party, Bernier, People's Party, Blanchet- Bloq Quebecois). Same with our Premiers (equivalent to American Governors); you vote for the Member of Parliament officially, but that vote is REALLY a vote for the leader or, plainly put, the Prime Minister. Basically, same as the US, the leader of the party is appointed by the rest of the party and should they win the HoC seats (in ridings or, in the US, Electoral College votes) during the election, the person who is the leader, becomes Prime Minister.

2. Coalitions can exist, but they are not common at all (the last one we had was back at Confederation and even then, it ended once Canada was officially a country, as MacDonald was a Conservative. Confederation was in 1867). Specifically, your question seems aimed at what potentially could've happened in 2009, with Harper's bumbling idiocy getting him tossed via the vote of non-confidence (in a way, like Impeachment in the US; just not as convoluted and long a process, as well this would happen soon after an election and not well into a term)... but that never happened (and truthfully, it never well lol). What could've happened last year, was what I wrote above; if the Conservatives won a minority government in the election, but the rest of the parties in the HoC didn't feel Scheer was up to the task, via the vote of non-confidence, Scheer would be removed and there would've been a coalition... but the Liberals won a minority government and there's no way in hell the New Democrats and the Conservatives would join up in government lol (basically, if the Reps. and Dems. were to form a coalition, literally).

3. Should there be a minority government (of which, many of our governments are and what our current one is), very little gets done in terms of bills, laws, etc. lol. Coalitions can be formed by like-minded parties (IE: the Liberals and the New Democrats) in order to get things done but, again, that never happens.

Every electoral system has its own nuances and quirks, but when you get down to it, the process and methodology on Election day, is almost the same between our two countries; one makes sense for the country it's in, the other doesn't.