Elections in Canada

Voting Any Canadian over the age of 18 can vote in any election. Canadians vote for a Member of Parliament Members of Parliament represent Canadians in the House of Commons. Members of Parliament represent geographical regions called ridings There are 308 Members of Parliament

Ridings or Constituencies Canada has a lot of land and a small population Ridings are determined by geographic regions not population Canada’s largest riding has people and covers 2 million square km Canada’s smallest riding has people and covers 9 square km

Elections The Prime Minister must call an election every 5 years but can decide to call it at any time The Chief Electoral Officer is a bureaucrat who manages the election and makes sure the rules are followed

The Vote Each riding has many polling stations, these are where people go to vote Polling stations are often found in schools or public buildings People vote by putting an x on a ballot for the person they want to vote for

POLITICAL PARTIES

Political Parties There are five major political parties in Canada 1.NDP 2.Liberals 3.Conservatives 4.Green Party 5.Bloc Quebecois Political parties are formed by people who share the same ideas Anybody can become a member of a party by paying a membership fee

Party Leader Each political party chooses a leader The leader represents the party and is its main voice If the party wins the party leader becomes the Prime Minister

Candidates A political party wins an election by electing the most candidates to the House of Commons Parties can choose candidates however they like, sometimes the Party Leader will choose a candidate, sometimes they will be chosen by the people in the riding

Party Platform A party platform is the main ideas that a party will do if they are elected It is their reason for why people should vote for them If a party is elected they don’t have to do what they said, but if they don’t next election no one will believe them

Public Opinion Polls Parties will often ask the public what they will like when they are forming their platform They will use these polls to decide who is a good candidate or a good leader They also use these polls to decide where they need to spend the most money while campaigning

Campaigning During an election the party and candidates campaign for election They try to spread their message and raise money to spend on running the campaign The more money a party gets the easier it is for them to campaign because they can spend more on TV ads, etc.

Negative vs. Positive Campaiging can be negative or positive Negative campaigning involves saying bad things about a candidates opponent and saying why there policies are bad Positive campaigning involves saying good things about yourself and explaining why your policies are good

THE RESULTS

First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) Canada has a FPTP system Winner’s do not need to have more than 50% of the vote, they only need to have more votes than anyone else Sometimes this can result in a party who has a majority of the votes not winning the election

Single Transferable Vote (STV) A voting system which gives parties seats based on the percentage of votes they win in the election Some people argue that this type of voting is better because it makes every count

Majority or Minority The party that gets the most candidates elected wins the election If a party gets 50% of its 308 candidates elected it wins a majority government If a party gets less than 50% of its candidates elected it wins a minority government Minority governments cannot do whatever they want, they have to work with the other parties to pass the laws they want

Voter Apathy Some Canadians don’t want to vote, normally only 60-70% of Canadians who can vote, do so There is no one reason for voter apathy, but generally people either are not interested, don’t like the candidates, or don’t think their vote would matter

Review Dissolution – the government is shut down and the an election is called Enumeration – a list of voters is made Nomination – political parties choose their candidates Campaigning – Parties spread their message and try to make money Voting/Balloting – People vote for a candidate Tabulating – Votes are counted and a winner is chosen