The American's Guide to Canadian Elections
Are you confused about the Canadian election process? Or are you confused because you didn't know Canada had elections? Either way, prepare to be enlightened.
If you like parties, then Canada is the place to be! There's quite the variety. Besides those boring Conservative and Liberal parties that no one would even want to crash, there's more exciting choices like the Marijuana Party, or the now extinct Rhinoceros Party, so named because politicians are "thick-skinned, slow-moving, dim-witted, can move fast as hell when in danger, and have large, hairy horns growing out of the middle of their faces." Some even get together to have a Bloc party (presumably named such because they all live so close together).
Monday was the 39th election in Canadian history, but how did it come to be? Voting every 4 years or so would make too much sense and could be unnecessary (why waste time and money when you don't have to?), so instead Canadians vote whenever they feel like it. It could be months, years, or decades between elections. Basically, whenever a big enough group decides they don't like who is in charge, everyone votes all over again! Or, the group that is in charge could just decide they want adventure and the possibility of losing an election by calling one.
Once an election is called, it's off to the races to see who can get the most money, I mean votes, as any party will earn $1.75 for every vote they get. Despite this payoff, there is surprisingly no strong effort to "get out the vote" or other voting % raising campaigns.
There is real beauty in this spontaneity. There's no time to run huge elaborate campaigns and blow tons of money, because there are only a few weeks between the calling of the election and the actual election. There's time for a few debates, attack ads (click "military presence" at right), and parodies here and there, but before you know it, it's time to vote. In fact, the density of yard signs and TV ads is much lower relative to the US.
The election itself is shrouded in secrecy. Exit polls are illegal. To further promote real democracy and eliminate copycats, ever since the first election, it has been illegal to report the results of other parts of the country until the polls have closed in your time zone. (Well, 2 elections ago this ban was lifted, but it was put back.) This even makes it illegal for a pot-head to call his or her newfie aunt to find out what is going on. Just compare that to the American primary elections which last for weeks, a perfect demonstration of copycat voting!
As the real figure-head of the country, the prime minister is an important position, despite no mention of the position in the constitution (except for one minor clause requiring meetings with the provincial premiers (governors)). Nevertheless, the citizens never actually vote for the prime minister. Instead, they vote for people (members of parliament) who will then vote for the prime minister. Outrageous! Oh wait.
Since the prime minister must be a member of parliament, things really get interesting when the party leader loses in his or her election to parliament. In this case, things are fudged around to get the leader in somehow. This doesn't happen very often, but has happened in the past. It also provides a good chuckle for everyone not in that party.
So, the winner is the party with the most members of parliament. They pick their leader to be the prime minister and life goes on. If there is no majority, then expect little to get done and get ready for a new election in 1 year 7 months and 5 days (on average).
There you have it! Now you see why only 64% of Canadians voted.
posted by Sean @ 7:09 PM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Good post, but a few corrections.
0. Parliament is required to call an election at least every 5 years. However, the government can call an election earlier, either due to a no confidence vote (as happened this time), or because the governing party feels they could win even more seats. But five years into any mandate, the government is forced to call another election. So it could never be "decades" between elections.
1. Fund raising campaigns. They are more tightly restricted here by law. Corporations can't make massive donations, so the parties tend to go after individuals. I think there are restrictions against advertising specifically for funds, however I did get a large number of e-mail requests from the Liberal Party asking for donations (recall I used to be a member, before I joined the CF). The parties tend to target their membership for fund raising, but are otherwise not terribly overt about it. It's also worth nothing that the local candidates have their own war chests, so the fundraising is highly decentralized.
2. Yard signs. Depends on what part of the country you're in. I found the density a lot lower here than in Toronto. That could be due in part to how much money is available for the constituency offices here in Victoria.
3. You have the order of voting backwards when it comes to the Prime Minister. Each party has to have a leader which is elected by the members of that party. Those members aren't just the people in the party who are elected to Parliament, but everyone across Canada who holds membership in that party, as outlined in that parties constitution. The leader then holds that position until they retire, resign, or gets forced out (which is typically difficult to do -- it usually happens by forcing the leader to resign via internal party politics). This always happens before an election, usually by several years (Paul Martin, our now former PM, was voted leader of the Liberal Party back in 2003 IIRC, and was leader through two elections). So long as the party leader of the party with the most seats wins in their riding, they become Prime Minister.
4. I don't think there has even been an instance where a party won an election, but where their leader didn't. Usually the "fudging" you mention happens when a new leader is chosen between elections. In such a case, the party usually runs the leader in a by-election somewhere in the country (which happens when a seat suddenly becomes available between elections, such as if the previous member decides to relegate their seat, or perhaps more commonly, passes away). It's worth noting here that on election night I believe I used Jack Layton as an example of this, but I was wrong about that -- he waited until the 2004 general election, running in the Toronto - Danforth riding.
5. Minority governments can get things done, but that tends to work better for Liberal minority governments. This is because of the four major parties, three of them have Liberal leanings. Take, for example, Gay Marriage. That was passed by the now outgoing Liberal Minority, because it had backing of the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois. Of course, as soon as the other parties see that they can gain a political advantage, they'll vote down the Government in a confidence vote, and the procedure will start all over again :).
Well, that should clear up the majority of the errors in your otherwise fine post :).
Yaz.
Addendum:
For those Americans who are lucky enough to work their way into the Canadian voting public, here is how to vote. If you normally vote for the red team, then you should now vote for the blue team. Likewise, if you normally vote for the blue team, then you should vote for the red team. However, and I know this is really confusing, if you normally vote for the green team, then keep on voting for the green team (such a vote will do just as much good as in the US).
Thanks for the corrections yaz. It looks like you are making this so precise that its name would have to change to the "Canadian's Guide." :)
No problem. I just felt that since you got quite a bit of your information from me in the first place, it was my civic duty to make sure it wasn't misrepresented :).
Besides which, I know that if you tell an American that Canada runs off a 30-hour clock (like the French), they'll be apt to believe you... ;).
Yaz.
Yes, we like to remove unnecessary details when we write. Just look at our colorful spelling.
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