SS 11

Learning Outcome Explain how federal and provincial governments are formed in Canada

How has government affected you so far today? Hint, government is involved in all of these things. Can you figure out how?

Government is Everywhere!

How did Stephen Harper get to be Prime Minister? Think, Pair, Share!

Representative Democracy In a representative democracy, the people pick someone to represent them, so they don’t have to make all the decisions themselves. In Canada, this happens as the result of an election, where Canadians get to vote. Yay! I was elected

Voting usually happens about every four years…. Usually. In Canada, we use a party system based on the political spectrum.

Riding or Constituency For elections, the country or province is broken up into pieces called ridings or constituencies. A representative is selected from a variety of candidates by the voters. Did you Know? Constituencies are called ridings because originally the territory could not be larger than a man could ride on horseback.

Representation by Population Ridings can be very small, or very large. That is because they are based on population. For Federal elections (Canada wide) each riding contains approximately 100, 000 Canadians. Nanaimo- Alberni Nanaimo- Cowichan

1 Seat (NWT) 100 Seats (Ontario)

Provincial Politics British Columbians elect Members to the Legislative Assembly in Victoria. The winners of each riding are called MLA’s. Most British Columbians refer to the assembly as the Parliament Buildings. Who is our MLA?

Member of Parliament (MP) In a separate election, Canadians elect Members of Parliament (MP’s) to go to Ottawa. They sit in the House of Commons, Canada’s Parliament Who is our MP? Jean Crowder (Federal NDP party)

The House of Commons MP’s Win Seats in The House of Commons

Inside the House of Commons 1. Speaker’s Chair 3. Government Seats 5. Prime Minister 6. Leader of the Opposition 7. Leader of the 2 nd largest opposition party 9. Mace 11. Sgt. at Arms 12. The Bar 15. Public Gallery

2011 Canadian Federal Election Results

Conservative Party: Finally the majority government that they wanted! First Place! 167/308 Seats! Conservative Party forms the Government of Canada. How many seats did they need out of 308 to win a majority? 308 divided by 2 +1 = 155

The Prime Minister Leader of the largest party in the HOC. He has the most MP’s and therefore the most seats. Stephen Harper Conservative Party

NDP: An Historic Second Place Finish! NDP = Official Opposition (2 nd Place) The NDP won 102/308 Ridings/Constituencies/Elector al Districts

Liberal Party: Historic worst Place Finish! (3 rd ) 34/308 Seats Leader Michael Ignatieff Resigns, after losing his own seat in the House of Commons!

Block Quebecois Canada’s very own Quebec Separatist Party is decimated! 4/308 Seats! Gilles Duceppe Resigns

Green Party – Historic Breakthrough! Elizabeth May makes a historic breakthrough for Green Party’s around the world, by winning the first ever seat in the Canadian Parliament! 1/308 Seats are now Green!

2011Canadian Election Results # of Seats won in the House of Commons Popular Vote: Percentage of Canadians that voted for the various parties Question: Are the seats in the HOC allocated fairly? How many seats would the Green Party have if they were done by the popular vote?

Seats in the House of Commons There are enough seats in the House of Commons for one representative for approximately every 100, 000 Canadians. If the population of Canada is just over 30, 000, 000, How many seats are in the HOC? A: 308 Conservatives Liberals Bloc Quebecois NDP Please note, these election results are from 2008

A Majority Government! A majority government, controls the House of Commons because they have over half of the votes. It doesn’t matter what the opposition thinks, they get out voted.

Leader of the Official Opposition Leader of the second largest party in the House of Commons Michael Ignatieff Liberal Party

Leader of the 2 nd largest party in opposition Winner of the 3 rd most number of seats in the HOC. Gilles Duceppe Bloc Quebecois

Minority Government A minority government has to be careful. They do not have ultimate power and must get help from the opposition to pass new laws. They have fewer than 50% of the seats. If the opposition parties gang up on the government party, what happens?

Defeat! If the government is defeated in the HOC, it means we go back to the drawing board and have another election!

When the Conservatives were a minority government they were on thin ice…

Quick Write How are governments formed in Canada?