**IMPORTANT**: CANADIANS, PLEASE READ
(non-Canadians, please share)
Okay, since there's no doubt going to be a huge amount of Trumpist misinformation coming our way, and since most provinces don't have a civics curriculum, let me explain to you how our electoral system works.
Canada operates what's known as a Westminster Parliamentary System--essentially identical to the one that the United Kingdom uses. The main feature of such a system is that the branches of government that are responsible for setting policy (known as the executive branch) and for making laws (known as the legislative branch) are one in the same.
Basically, how it works is this: at least once every four years*, the people of Canada get together to elect members to a deliberative body known as the House of Commons**; the HoC currently has 343 seats, with each seat representing a geographical district known as a riding.
When an election is called, the people living in a riding go to their appointed polling places and cast ballots for one of the various candidates vying for the seat. The candidate who wins the most votes wins. You will note that I said the most votes, rather than a majority of votes. If there are three or more candidates vying for the seat, this means that it's possible (indeed common) for a candidate to win even if most people in their riding voted for someone else. This is called First Past the Post, and it's a problem, but every time we have a referendum on whether to change it, the "no" side wins. *grumble*
Anyways, most of the candidates belong to parties. The parties are as follows:
The Liberals: A centrist political party (represented by the colour red), currently headed by Mark Carney. This is the party that is currently in power, and has been for most of the last 10 years.
The Conservatives (also known as the Tories): A right-wing political party (represented by the colour blue), currently headed by Pierre Poilievre. Besides the Liberals, this is the only other party to have formed governments at the federal level in Canada. If you remember Stephen Harper, he was a Tory.
The New Democratic Party (generally known as the NDP): A left-wing political party (represented by the colour orange), currently headed by Jagmeet Singh. Because we're currently in a minority parliament (I will explain what that means in a moment), the Liberals have been dependent on NDP support to pass bills for the last few years, but they have never themselves formed a government at the Federal level.
The Bloc Quebecois: This is a French-Canadian nationalist / separatist political party (represented by the colour light blue) that only runs candidates in Quebec. Currently headed by Yves-Francois Blanchet. They structurally cannot form the government.
The Green Party: An environmentalist political party (represented by the colour...well...green). Currently headed by Elizabeth May and Jonathan Pedneault (they have a "co-leadership" model). They have never had more than 3 seats in the House of Commons.
The People's Party: A far-right political party (represented by the colour purple). Currently headed by Maxime Bernier. They have never had any seats in the house of commons.
There are a lot of smaller parties as well, but as none of them have ever attracted more than a few thousand votes.
Anyways, after the votes have been tallied and the elected representatives--known as Members of Parliament (MPs)--are selected for each riding, then the Governor General*** asks the leader of the party that was in power before the election whether they can still form the government. In general, in order to form the government, a party needs to have enough support not to be immediately defeated on what are called confidence votes--these are particularly important votes in the House of Commons on things like the budget or the government's overall policy direction. If a party can't pass votes on these issues, then they're effectively unable to govern and either one of the parties will be asked to form the government, going in order of priority depending on the number of MPs that each party elected. The leader of the party that forms the government is known as the Prime Minister.
There are a few things to note here. First of all, Canadians do not vote for the Prime Minister directly; they vote for the individual MPs from each party, and the leader of the winning party becomes the Prime Minister by default. That's why Mark Carney was able to become Prime Minister even though the general public never voted for him: the members of the Liberal Party did vote for him, and it's the Liberal Party that is in power right now.
Secondly, the easiest way for a party to be sure that it can pass all votes will be for it to win the majority of the seats in the House of Commons. This is called a majority government, and, for a variety of reasons, is what Canada usually ends up with. Under a majority government, the party can continue to lead without concern until the next regularly scheduled election in four years. On the other hand, it's possible for a party to win the most seats but not a majority, in which case it will generally have to negotiate with some of the smaller parties for continued support. This is called a minority government, and is what we have had under Justin Trudeau since 2019; the Liberals could still govern, even though they no longer controlled the majority of the House of Commons, by agreeing to support NDP priorities like taxpayer-supported dental care and prescription drugs. A minority government can never be certain of its own future: even if there's an agreement between two parties, it can be suspended at any time. If the government in such a situation is defeated on a confidence vote, then either the GG will ask one of the other parties if they can form a government, or more typically, dissolve parliament and call a new election. A minority government can also "defeat" itself, by asking the GG to call a new election. This is known as a snap election, and is what we're in now.
Finally, because of the aforementioned problem with First Past the Post voting, the seat totals in the House of Commons will rarely, if ever, directly reflect the percentage of votes that each party won. In particular, FPTP has a way of magnifying both victories and defeats, such that, in general, the threshold for winning a "majority" government is actually ~40% of the vote. Since I know that this will come up in Trumpist propaganda if it happens again, please note that it's also possible for a party to lose the popular vote and still win the most seats--Trudeau's Liberals actually received fewer votes than the Tories in the 2019 and 2021 elections, but still got to form the government. Yes, it's bullshit, but again, every time we hold a referendum on changing it, people vote "no", so it's the system we have (*grumble*)
Anyways, election day is on April 28th. You can register to vote here. Please ensure that you do so.
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*The law says "four years" but the constitution actually allows for five; but this isn't important now.
**There's also a second house, known as the Senate, which, instead of being elected, consists of members who are appointed by the government for terms that last up to mandatory retirement at the age of 75. This effectively allows previous administrations to have influence lasting long after they've been voted out of power. Yes, it's a problem, but it also has substantially less power than the House of Commons and can do little more than modify bills.
***The Governor General (GG) is the King's representative in Canada. This position nominally has a lot of power, but is entirely ceremonial in practice. The GG is appointed once every five years by the King, on the advice of whoever is Prime Minister at the time. Her other duties include cutting ribbons, handing out awards, and reading speeches on policy--known as speeches from the throne--written by the Prime Minister. It is, by all accounts, a pretty sweet gig if you can get it. Right now, the GG is a woman called Mary Simon. You don't know her name because she hasn't done anything scandalous and doesn't affect your life in any way.
