History UsefulNotes / CanadianPolitics

* The Liberal Party, having earned strong poll ratings for its handling of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, were hoping to return to majority government status. However, Justin Trudeau's (MP for Papineau) calling an election for that September 20 nearly backfired disastrously, as the Conservative Party raced into a huge lead early in the campaign, due to backlash over the government's handling of its [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror withdrawal from Afghanistan]], as well was what was seen by some as Trudeau's hubris for calling the election in the first place. Despite this, the party slowly clawed back in the polls over the course of the campaign, with some help from Conservative gaffes. In the end they gained a handful of seats despite still being behind in the popular vote (albeit by less than in 2019), leaving Trudeau still in charge of a relatively comfortable minority government [[HereWeGoAgain eerily similar to the one he had dissolved]]. Then in early 2022, the NDP and Liberals announced they had negotiated a supply-and-confidence agreement, where the NDP would support the Liberal Party on any votes on [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin supply or confidence]][[labelnote:*]]Essentially, the budget or any vote of confidence or non-confidence, the loss of either could bring down the government and trigger another election[[/labelnote]] until the next scheduled election, and the Liberals would promise to implement certain key NDP policies, a national dental plan in particular. This benefited both parties, in that the Liberals can govern until 2025 without worrying about the opposition parties threatening to bring down the government and the NDP can see progress on their own concerns and policies, while also giving themselves more time to raise money for the next election (The NDP still had some debts left over from the 2019 election when Parliament was dissolved in 2021). The Conservatives naturally cried foul, and likened the deal to a socialist coup d'état (that the Liberals committed [[FridgeLogic against themselves]]) that Canadians didn't vote for, even if a majority of Canadians did vote for either the Liberals or NDP, bringing back the arguments Stephen Harper used to discredit the 2008 Liberal–DP–Bloc coalition agreement. Most Canadians were just relieved they didn't have to go through another election.

* The Liberal Party, having earned strong poll ratings for its handling of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, were hoping to return to majority government status. However, Justin Trudeau's (MP for Papineau) calling an election for that September 20 nearly backfired disastrously, as the Conservative Party raced into a huge lead early in the campaign, due to backlash over the government's handling of its [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror withdrawal from Afghanistan]], as well was what was seen by some as Trudeau's hubris for calling the election in the first place. Despite this, the party slowly clawed back in the polls over the course of the campaign, with some help from Conservative gaffes. In the end they gained a handful of seats despite still being behind in the popular vote (albeit by less than in 2019), leaving Trudeau still in charge of a relatively comfortable minority government [[HereWeGoAgain eerily similar to the one he had dissolved]]. Then in early 2022, the NDP and Liberals announced they had negotiated a supply-and-confidence agreement, where the NDP would support the Liberal Party on any votes on [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin supply or confidence]][[labelnote:*]]Essentially, the budget or any vote of confidence or non-confidence, the loss of either could bring down the government and trigger another election[[/labelnote]] until the next scheduled election, and the Liberals would promise to implement certain key NDP policies, a national dental plan in particular. This benefited both parties, in that the Liberals can govern until 2025 without worrying about the opposition parties threatening to bring down the government and the NDP can see progress on their own concerns and policies, while also giving themselves more time to raise money for the next election (The NDP still had some debts left over from the 2019 election when Parliament was dissolved in 2021). The Conservatives naturally cried foul, and likened the deal to a socialist coup-d'etat (that the Liberals committed [[FridgeLogic against themselves]]) that Canadians didn't vote for, even if a majority of Canadians did vote for either the Liberals or NDP, bringing back the arguments Stephen Harper used to discredit the 2008 Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition agreement. Most Canadians were just relieved they didn't have to go through another election.
* The Conservatives, barely a year after the election of Erin O'Toole (MP for Durham) as leader, seemed ill-prepared for an election, but nonetheless got off to a strong start in the campaign, leaving it suddenly looking possible that O'Toole might steer the party to an improbable victory. However, various factors -- including vote-splitting caused by a stronger-than-expected performance from the People's Party, flip-flopping on gun control, a manifesto that was accused of being virtually indistinguishable from that of the Liberals, and Jason Kenney's provincial Conservative government in Alberta coming under fire for its diffident handling of a new COVID wave -- eroded their poll lead and led to a performance virtually identical to that of 2019, actually leaving them slightly further behind the Liberals than they already were in terms of seats in parliament. O'Toole was ousted by the parliamentary caucus the following February, leaving the party currently under the interim leadership of Candice Bergen (no, not [[Creator/CandiceBergen that one]]).
* The Bloc Québécois, having made a comeback in 2019 under the leadership of Yves-Francois Blanchet (MP for Beloeil--Chambly) after seeming dead and buried for most of the 2010s, appeared to be in a bit of trouble going into the campaign and were initially expected to lose some seats. Then came some unexpected help -- from the moderator of the ''English-language'' debate. Blanchet was asked a question perceived by many in Quebec to be inflammatory and insulting, and the Bloc regained much of their lost support in the following days after being seen as defending Quebec values from the English during the debate. On election night, they made modest progress, slightly improving their popular vote share and winning the same number of seats[[note]](Initially it appeared they had gained a seat, but this was later overturned on a recount, with the Liberals holding onto it by just 12 votes)[[/note]], cementing their place as the third-largest party in Parliament.
* The NDP managed to win one more seat and a slightly higher proportion of the popular vote than in 2019. While seen as a slightly disappointing result after party leader Jagmeet Singh (MP for Burnaby South) earned consistently strong approval ratings and even led a couple of polls in that regard, it nonetheless arrested the gradual decline they had been in since 2015. Their current supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals has also raised their profile and give them a plank with which to campaign on come the next election.

* The Liberal Party, having earned strong poll ratings for its handling of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, were hoping to return to majority government status. However, Justin Trudeau's (MP for Papineau) calling an election for that September 20 nearly backfired disastrously, as the Conservative Party raced into a huge lead early in the campaign, due to backlash over the government's handling of its [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror withdrawal from Afghanistan]], as well was what was seen by some as Trudeau's hubris for calling the election in the first place. Despite this, the party slowly clawed back in the polls over the course of the campaign, with some help from Conservative gaffes. In the end they gained a handful of seats despite still being behind in the popular vote (albeit by less than in 2019), leaving Trudeau still in charge of a relatively comfortable minority government [[HereWeGoAgain eerily similar to the one he had dissolved]]. Then in early 2022, the NDP and Liberals announced they had negotiated a supply-and-confidence agreement, where the NDP would support the Liberal Party on any votes on [[ExactlyWhatIsSaysOnTheTin supply or confidence]][[labelnote:*]]Essentially, the budget or any vote of confidence or non-confidence, the loss of either could bring down the government and trigger another election[[/labelnote]] until the next scheduled election, and the Liberals would promise to implement certain key NDP policies, a national dental plan in particular. This benefited both parties, in that the Liberals can govern until 2025 without worrying about the opposition parties threatening to bring down the government and the NDP can see progress on their own concerns and policies, while also giving themselves more time to raise money for the next election (The NDP still had some debts left over from the 2019 election when Parliament was dissolved in 2021). The Conservatives naturally cried foul, and likened the deal to a socialist coup-d'etat (that the Liberals committed [[FridgeLogic against themselves]]) that Canadians didn't vote for, even if a majority of Canadians did vote for either the Liberals or NDP, bringing back the arguments Stephen Harper used to discredit the 2008 Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition agreement. Most Canadians were just relieved they didn't have to go through another election.

* The Liberal Party, having earned strong poll ratings for its handling of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, were hoping to return to majority government status. However, Justin Trudeau's (MP for Papineau) calling an election for that September 20 nearly backfired disastrously, as the Conservative Party raced into a huge lead early in the campaign, due to backlash over the government's handling of its [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror withdrawal from Afghanistan]], as well was what was seen by some as Trudeau's hubris for calling the election in the first place. Despite this, the party slowly clawed back in the polls over the course of the campaign, with some help from Conservative gaffes. In the end they gained a handful of seats despite still being behind in the popular vote (albeit by less than in 2019), leaving Trudeau still in charge of a relatively comfortable minority government [[HereWeGoAgain eerily similar to the one he had dissolved]]. Then in early 2022, the NDP and Liberals announced they had negotiated a supply-and-confidence agreement, where the NDP would support the Liberal Party on any votes on [[ExactlyWhatIsSaysOnTheTin supply or confidence]][[labelnote:*]]Essentially, the budget or any vote of confidence or non-confidence, the loss of either could bring down the government and trigger another election[[/labelnote]] until the next scheduled election, and the Liberals would promise to implement certain key NDP policies, a national dental plan in particular. This benefited both parties, in that the Liberals can govern until 2025 without worrying about the opposition parties threatening to bring down the government and the NDP can see progress on their own concerns and policies, while also giving themselves more time to raise money for the next election (The NDP still had some debts left over from the 2019 election when Parliament was dissolved in 2021). The Conservatives naturally cried foul, and likened the deal to a socialist coup-d'etat (that the Liberals committed [[FridgeLogic against themselves]]) that Canadians didn't vote for, even if a majority of Canadians did vote for either the Liberals or NDP, bringing back the arguments Stephen Harper used to discredit the 2010 Liberal-NDP-Bloc coalition agreement. Most Canadians were just relieved they didn't have to go through another election.

* The Liberal Party, having earned strong poll ratings for its handling of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, were hoping to return to majority government status. However, Justin Trudeau's (MP for Papineau) calling an election for that September 20 nearly backfired disastrously, as the Conservative Party raced into a huge lead early in the campaign, due to backlash over the government's handling of its [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror withdrawal from Afghanistan]], as well was what was seen by some as Trudeau's hubris for calling the election in the first place. Despite this, the party slowly clawed back in the polls over the course of the campaign, with some help from Conservative gaffes. In the end they gained a handful of seats despite still being behind in the popular vote (albeit by less than in 2019), leaving Trudeau still in charge of a relatively comfortable minority government [[HereWeGoAgain eerily similar to the one he had dissolved]].

* The NDP managed to win one more seat and a slightly higher proportion of the popular vote than in 2019. While seen as a slightly disappointing result after party leader Jagmeet Singh (MP for Burnaby South) earned consistently strong approval ratings and even led a couple of polls in that regard, it nonetheless arrested the gradual decline they had been in since 2015.

Each province’s representative of the Sovereign is appointed on recommendation from the Governor General, this officeholder is called the Lieutenant Governor.[[note]]Though they now represent the Queen directly, back when Canada was created, they represented the Governor General and were an instrument through which the federal government could veto provincial legislation in a process called "disallowance"; this power remains in the constitution but is no longer used, court challenges are now the primary means the federal government uses to overturn unconstitutional provincial laws.[[/note]] In the territories, the equivalent position is the Commissioner. Unlike Lieutenant Governors, Commissioners are appointed by and represent the federal government and not the Queen directly because the territories constitutionally don't have the same status of sovereignty.[[note]]They used to be powerful administrators who ruled territories directly, before the federal government curbed their powers and instituted democratically elected governments for the territories. Now, like the lieutenant governors, their role is mainly ceremonial.[[/note]]

UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} is [[TheFederation a federal parliamentary democracy]] within a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the sovereign, currently [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Queen Elizabeth II]] (since 1952), who is represented by the Governor General, currently Mary Simon (since July 2021). The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Justin Trudeau (since 2015).[[note]]The role of Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, currently Chrystia Freeland (since 2019), has no standing in Canadian law. It is not an equivalent to a Vice President, but rather is a way for a PM to show trust or favour to a member of their Cabinet.[[/note]] Any citizen at least 18 years old may vote in any election, with two exceptions: the Chief and Deputy Chief Electoral Officers.

UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} is a federal parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the sovereign, currently [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Queen Elizabeth II]] (since 1952), who is represented by the Governor General, currently Mary Simon (since July 2021). The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Justin Trudeau (since 2015).[[note]]The role of Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, currently Chrystia Freeland (since 2019), has no standing in Canadian law. It is not an equivalent to a Vice President, but rather is a way for a PM to show trust or favour to a member of their Cabinet.[[/note]] Any citizen at least 18 years old may vote in any election, with two exceptions: the Chief and Deputy Chief Electoral Officers.

Territories differ from provinces in that the power of a territory is conferred by the federal government with an Act of Parliament in the name of the Sovereign like all other legislation, while the power of a province is granted directly from the Sovereign by the province’s constitution. Thus each province is a sovereign constitutional monarchy -- to wit, an independent kingdom -- that, in terms of constitutional theory, has voluntarily surrendered a substantial chunk of its sovereignty to a different sovereign constitutional monarchy that rules over it in certain matters. That the monarch of each of these eleven (ten provincial, one federal) monarchies is exactly the same person is of no consequence. The territories, on the other hand, are administered directly by the federal government in the name of the Crown of Canada. In other words, it’s ''exactly'' like the difference between a U.S. state and a U.S. territory, except for the obvious difference that the United States, as a republic, has no sovereign to confer legitimacy, and relies on ‘the people’ instead.

A lesser-known national unity issue is so-called "Western alienation", the notion held by some in the western provinces that they have been alienated (and in extreme cases excluded) from mainstream political affairs in favour of Ontario and Quebec. This has fueled separatist movements in the west in general and Alberta in particular, with that province having ''two'' active (though small) separatist parties in 2021. That said, western separatist sentiment has yet to reach the critical mass that it has in Quebec.

* The Conservatives, barely a year after the election of Erin O'Toole (MP for Durham) as leader, seemed ill-prepared for an election, but nonetheless got off to a strong start in the campaign, leaving it suddenly looking possible that O'Toole might steer the party to an improbable victory. However, various factors -- including vote-splitting caused by a stronger-than-expected performance from the People's Party, flip-flopping on gun control, a manifesto that was accused of being virtually indistinguishable from that of the Liberals, and Jason Kenney's provincial Conservative government in Alberta coming under fire for its diffident handling of a new COVID wave -- eroded their poll lead and led to a performance virtually identical to that of 2019, actually leaving them slightly further behind the Liberals than they already were in terms of seats in parliament. O'Toole was ousted by the parliamentary caucus the following February, leaving the party currently under the interim leadership of Candice Bergen (no, not [[Series/MurphyBrown that one]])

* The Conservatives, barely a year after the election of Erin O'Toole (MP for Durham) as leader, seemed ill-prepared for an election, but nonetheless got off to a strong start in the campaign, leaving it suddenly looking possible that O'Toole might steer the party to an improbable victory. However, various factors -- including vote-splitting caused by a stronger-than-expected performance from the People's Party, flip-flopping on gun control, a manifesto that was accused of being virtually indistinguishable from that of the Liberals, and Jason Kenney's provincial Conservative government in Alberta coming under fire for its diffident handling of a new COVID wave -- eroded their poll lead and led to a performance virtually identical to that of 2019, actually leaving them slightly further behind the Liberals than they already were in terms of seats in parliament.

* The Green Party were the major losers of the election. After having their best-ever result in the 2019 election, long-time party leader Elizabeth May (MP for Saanich--Gulf Islands) retired and was succeeded by Annamie Paul, who became the first woman of colour to lead a major Canadian political party. Despite an encouraging start to her leadership, which saw Paul only narrowly fail to win a 2020 by-election in Toronto Centre, the party soon descended into infighting, leading to one of the party's three [=MPs=] (Jenica Atwin, who as MP for Fredericton was the first Green MP from outside B.C.) crossing the floor to the Liberals. In the ensuing election, Paul was accused of neglecting the party's political base of British Columbia in favour of trying to make a breakthrough in Ontario, and while the party did succeed in winning their first seat in the province (Mike Morrice picked up Kitchener Centre, largely in part because the Liberals disowned their candidate and ceased campaigning there), they lost their other British Columbia seat of Nanaimo--Ladysmith, leaving them down to two [=MPs=] and, more noticeably, having lost over half their popular vote share from the previous election. As a result, Paul announced her resignation a week after the election.

* The Bloc Québécois, having made a comeback in 2019 under the leadership of Yves-Francois Blanchet (MP for Beloeil--Chambly) after seeming dead and buried for most of the 2010s, appeared to be in a bit of trouble going into the campaign and were initially expected to lose some seats. Then came some unexpected help -- from the moderator of the ''English-language'' debate. Blanchet was asked a question perceived by many in Quebec to be inflammatory and insulting, and the Bloc regained much of their lost support in the following days after being seen as defending Quebec values from the English during the debate. On election night, they made modest progress, slightly improving their popular vote share and winning an extra seat, cementing their place as the third-largest party in Parliament.

** Following the election of Justin Trudeau's Liberals in the 2015 federal election, the new government pledged to reform the way in which [=MPs=] were elected, following a public consultation. When the public consultation and Commons committee work failed to yield a consensus (arguably by design), and public sentiment ran to electoral methods that Trudeau and his Cabinet did not favour, the Liberals abruptly dropped the idea.[[note]]People noticed the coincidence that had the 2015 election been held under some form of proportional representation, the Liberals would have received roughly 15% or 50 seats ''less'' representation and been reduced to a minority government. As an unrelated coincidence, that was about as many [=MPs=] as were elected with absolute majorities of the vote in their respective ridings.[[/note]]

** The Senate, following a bit from its UsefulNotes/{{American|PoliticalSystem}} counterpart, also allows for some regional representation, where the number of senators from each region is much more equalized. [[note]]24 each for Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes (PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), the West (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia), six for Newfoundland, and one for each territory[[/note]]. Indeed, it's almost reversed in some ways, with the more populous Western provinces having far fewer senators ''per capita'' than the smaller Atlantic ones; as a result, Western premiers are the most likely to complain about senatorial imbalance.
** In practice, the Senate is often useful to prime ministers as a means of rewarding cronies, [[KickedUpstairs getting troublesome allies out of the way]], and keeping their own mark on Parliament long after they have lost election or left politics themselves. More recently, due to public concerns over patronage as well as occasional scandals over fraud and improper expense claims, there have been calls to reform or even abolish the Senate. The Liberals have generally supported the status quo, while many New Democrats want to abolish the Senate altogether, and the Conservatives (historically strong in the West) have usually supported an elected Senate. However, after the 2015 election returned Justin Trudeau's Liberals, a small but significant reform was initiated, with senatorial appointments being turned over to an independent commission to select experts based on merit. This has drawn criticism from some provinces, particularly (as expected) the western ones, for failing to do anything about the lopsided distribution of seats; to this, the government has replied that even if it wanted to do that, it couldn't, as that would require a constitutional amendment that could essentially never pass without the consent of at least one Atlantic province, whose influence would be correspondingly diluted (good luck with that).
* The '''Governor General of Canada''', who has been Mary Simon since July 2021 (filling the position full-time after Richard Wagner, chief justice of the Supreme Court, served as Administrator from January to July that year after Julie Payette resigned as GG), is the representative of the Sovereign and has a mammoth assortment of powers ranging from the ability to dissolve Parliament, appoint senators, Supreme Court justices, all high-ranking bureaucrats, and the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Governor General is also Commander-in-Chief of the [[UsefulNotes/CanucksWithChinooks Canadian military]]. However, these powers are bound by a large amount of unwritten convention, and are almost never used except on instruction from the Prime Minister — the last time they were, in 1926, the resulting “King-Byng Affair” resulted in a massive public outcry that ended in the re-election of Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King, whom Governor General Lord Byng had rejected.[[note]]Mackenzie King was Prime Minister despite the fact that his Liberal Party didn't even have the most seats in the House of Commons. When he tried to ask Lord Byng to dissolve Parliament after it voted against his government and call an election, he refused and appointed Conservative leader Arthur Meighen as PM instead. Meighen fared no better, so an election was called, which Mackenzie King handily won.[[/note]] The Governor General is, in theory, supposed to be chosen by the Sovereign from a list of candidates suggested by the Prime Minister. For some time now, the Prime Minister’s list of Governor General appointees has been exactly one name long.

A list of Prime Ministers can be found [[UsefulNotes/CanadianPrimeMinisters here.]]

Canada is divided into ten provinces — from east to west: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island (‘P.E.I.’), New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia (‘B.C.’) — and three territories: Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and Yukon.

Territories differ from provinces in that the power of a territory is conferred by the federal government with an Act of Parliament in the name of the Sovereign like all other legislation, while the power of a province is granted directly from the Sovereign by the province’s constitution. Thus each province is a sovereign constitutional monarchy — to wit, an independent kingdom — that, in terms of constitutional theory, has voluntarily surrendered a substantial chunk of its sovereignty to a different sovereign constitutional monarchy that rules over it in certain matters. That the monarch of each of these eleven (ten provincial, one federal) monarchies is exactly the same person is of no consequence. The territories, on the other hand, are administered directly by the federal government in the name of the Crown of Canada. In other words, it’s ''exactly'' like the difference between a U.S. state and a U.S. territory, except for the obvious difference that the United States, as a republic, has no sovereign to confer legitimacy, and relies on ‘the people’ instead.

One of the most interesting comparisons between the Canadian and U.S. political systems is in seeing how they have evolved since their founding. The American Founding Fathers conferred all powers not explicitly provided to the federal government to the states, leading to what was in theory a decentralized country. When UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, many British North American observers blamed the conflict on America’s decentralized political structure. The Fathers of Confederation thus made sure that the new Dominion of Canada would have a much more centralized system, even explicitly giving the federal government the power to disallow provincial legislation. Many of the English-speaking Fathers even wanted a “legislative union” like Britain, which would simply fuse all the colonies into a larger one, in the process erasing all colonial borders. However, the mainly French-speaking Fathers from Lower Canada (which would become Quebec) were adamantly opposed to this because they would become a mere minority,[[note]]The Anglophone Maritime Fathers also opposed it for the same reason, but it’s less well remembered than Quebec opposition because, well, {{history repeat|s}}ed in Quebec’s case.[[/note]] and so Confederation became a federal system, albeit a strongly centralized one.

Nova Scotia technically has no cities at all, with all municipal governance taking place purely at the regional municipality level -- even the province's major communities, such as Halifax, Dartmouth, Sydney and Antigonish, are not actual towns or cities in their own right, but simply "urban service areas" governed entirely by the regional council. Elsewhere, some but not all of the major cities (e.g. UsefulNotes/{{Toronto}} and Ottawa) are also not part of a county structure, but function like "consolidated city-county" or "independent city" governments in the United States.

Canada also has a very short election cycle, which can, in theory, occur at any time. Due to a fixed election date law passed in 2009, federal elections usually occur on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the previous poll. However, if the government falls in a non-confidence vote, elections can occur outside the usual time, which often happens in minority government situations sooner or later. A non-confidence vote occurs when a supply bill — that is, a bill dealing with the spending of money — is defeated, and reflects that the Parliament no longer believes that the Prime Minister is an effective leader. Essentially, it’s the legislative equivalent of "We’re firing you." This can force an election, and the Prime Minister can ask the Governor General to dissolve the government at any time — it is expected, but not legally required, that if it has not been at least six months since the last election, the GG may simply ask the leader of the next-largest party to try to form a government rather than saying HereWeGoAgain Once government is dissolved, the election cycle normally lasts five to six weeks, during which candidates campaign and stump for votes.

In federal politics, the three major parties are the centre-right/right-wing Conservative Party (the "Tories"), the centrist/centre-left Liberal Party (the "Grits"), and the left-wing/social-democratic New Democratic Party (NDP or "Dippers"). Historically, the Liberals and Conservatives have been the two major parties and the only ones to govern, although both have suffered periods of electoral collapse (the Conservatives from the mid-1990s to mid-2000s; the Liberals from the mid-2000s until 2015). The NDP was for a long time a perpetual third/fourth party, but has been an important force in Canadian politics, propping up minority Liberal governments in 1972–74 and 2004–05 and frequently raising policy concerns that Liberal governments took forward. The Green Party, while still small compared to the big three, is increasing in visibility and mainstream support and won its first seat in the 2011 election. There are many other smaller parties (Marijuana Party, Communist Party, etc.), and a few frivolous yet funny ones (most prominently the Rhinoceros Party).

* The Reform Party (later the Canadian Alliance), a conservative party with its greatest support in the western provinces, did well from 1993 to 2000 before merging with the Progressive Conservatives (from which they had initially broken off in 1987) to form the current Conservative Party.

* The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation can be considered the forerunners of the modern New Democratic Party. They were formed in the mid-1930s, and went on to hold a fairly decent amount of seats in the two decades ahead, before being forced to regroup and re-form as the NDP after the CCF won just eight seats in the 1958 election. Saw an unexpected comeback in 2018: when NDP MP Erin Weir (Regina-Lewvan) was ejected from the party, he relabelled himself as a member of the CCF, though he didn't seek re-election the following year.
* The Bloc Québécois, a [[SingleIssueWonk Quebec separatist party]] with a very slight centre-left orientation overall, was the dominant party in Quebec and a significant force in Parliament from 1993 to 2011, but lost its party status and all but four seats in the 2011 election, leaving them as TheRemnant. They made a modest comeback in 2015, winning ten seats, which was still not enough to return them to official party status. In early 2018, disagreements over the Bloc's newest leader led to the tiny caucus splintering further to create the "Quebec parliamentary group", though the rebel [=MPs=] would return to the party later in the year. Come 2019, and the party received enough votes to be an official party once more, and the third-largest party overall given the many seats the NDP lost.

A thing of note for American readers: as a rule, the Canadian political "centre" (as used to describe parties here) is to the ''left'' of [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem the American center]], much as it is in Western Europe. Canadian conservatives might be "Rockefeller Republicans" when there was still such a thing in Congress, right-leaning "Blue Dog Democrats" or moderate Democrats like UsefulNotes/BarackObama, UsefulNotes/JoeBiden or UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton in the USA, while the Liberals’ politics are closer to those of the left wing of the Democrats (e.g. Nancy Pelosi or Elizabeth Warren). The NDP are to the left of anything mainstream in the USA; a few prominent names on the American version of the "extreme left", such as UsefulNotes/BernieSanders, would probably be considered moderate progressives in the NDP.

American-style social conservatism is conversely regarded as a fringe view [[note]]more so the more east you travel in Canada (excepting British Columbia); the Prairies have a sizable portion of social conservatives as well [[/note]], with the conservative politicians focusing on fiscal issues. Indeed, this was a bone of contention for some of more {{moral|Guardians}}istic Conservative [=MPs=] under Stephen Harper and remains an issue for the Conservative Party post-Harper. Canadian conservatives tend to be fiscally conservative, supporting low taxes and local control, while remaining much more socially liberal and secular compared to their American counterparts. Their closest relatives on the U.S. right are libertarians like UsefulNotes/RonPaul and Gary Johnson.

In the 2011 federal election, the NDP, largely by gaining major support in Quebec -- where they had never before been a contender -- had a third of the seats in the House of Commons and became the Official Opposition for the first time in their history. This development was also responsible for the demise of the Bloc Québécois, who fell from long-time dominance in Quebec to TheRemnant of only ''four'' seats, not enough to qualify them as an official party. The Liberals, for the first time in ''their'' history, fell to third-party status. The Conservatives, for the first time since 1988, were elected to a majority government. Finally, the Green Party won its first-ever seat in Parliament, with its leader Elizabeth May being elected in the B.C. riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. This polarized Canadian politics to an unprecedented degree, as the NDP is further to the proverbial left than the Liberals are on most issues, and the current Reform-derived Conservatives are further right than the Progressive Conservative Party that preceded them.

As if that wasn’t enough drama for one year, NDP leader Jack Layton, whose popularity played a significant role in the NDP’s newfound success, died of cancer a few months following the election. Nycole Turmel was appointed the interim party leader, and Thomas Mulcair was elected as the new leader in April 2012. Since the NDP had never previously held Official Opposition status, the leadership race faced greater scrutiny than ever before, primarily due to the fact that the NDP could plausibly be selecting an individual who might become the country’s next Prime Minister.

However, 2015 had another shift in store. After the longest election campaign since the 19th century — 78 days, which may seem quaint to [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem other countries]] — the balance of power shifted ''again'', though unlike the previous election, many noted this to be more of a return to a previous equilibrium. In a stunning electoral win and borderline CurbStompBattle, the Liberal Party of Canada more than ''quintupled'' their seat count to 184 seats from 34, an electoral upset unprecedented in Canadian history, making Justin Trudeau the new Prime Minister, having won several seats in every province as well as sweeping the Atlantic provinces and all three territories. The Conservatives were reduced to 99 seats with several influential ministers losing their seats. Finally, the NDP dropped back to 44 seats, a substantial disappointment after having been the Official Opposition, losing several seats they thought were very safe for them to the Liberals. Little changed for the Bloc Québécois, which rebounded slightly to ten seats in the Commons, while Green Party leader Elizabeth May retained her seat in British Columbia.

* The Liberal Party, having earned strong poll ratings for its handling of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, were hoping to return to majority government status. However, Justin Trudeau's (MP for Papineau) calling an election nearly backfired disastrously, as the Conservative Party raced into a huge lead early in the campaign, due to backlash over the government's handling of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, as well was what was seen by some as Trudeau's hubris for calling the election in the first place. Despite this, the party slowly clawed back in the polls over the course of the campaign, with some help from Conservative gaffes. In the end they gained a handful of seats despite still being behind in the popular vote (albeit by less than in 2019), leaving Trudeau still in charge of a relatively comfortable minority government [[HereWeGoAgain eerily similar to the one he just dissolved]].
* The Conservatives, barely a year after the election of Erin O'Toole (MP for Durham) as leader, seemed ill-prepared for an election, but nonetheless got off to a strong start in the campaign, leaving it suddenly looking possible that O'Toole might steer the party to an improbable victory. However, various factors -- including vote-splitting caused by a stronger-than-expected performance from the People's Party, flip-flopping on gun control, a manifesto that was accused of being virtually indistinguishable from that of the Liberals, and Jason Kenney's provincial Conservative government in Alberta coming under fire for its diffident handling of a new COVID wave -- eroded their poll lead and lead to a performance virtually identical to that of 2019, actually leaving them slightly further behind the Liberals than they already were in terms of seats in parliament.
* The Bloc Québécois, having made a comeback in 2019 under the leadership of Yves-Francois Blanchet (MP for Beloiel--Chambly) after seeming dead and buried for most of the 2010s, appeared to be in a bit of trouble going into the campaign and were initially expected to lose some seats. Then came some unexpected help - from the moderator of the ''English'' debate. Blanchet was asked a question perceived by many in Quebec to be inflammatory and insulting, and the Bloc regained much of their lost support in the following days after being seen as defending Quebec values from the English during the debate. On election night, they made modest progress, slightly improving their popular vote share and winning an extra seat, cementing their place as the third-largest party in parliament.
* The NDP managed to win one more seat and a slightly higher proportion of the popular vote compared to 2019. While seen as a slightly disappointing result after party leader Jagmeet Singh (MP for Burnaby South) earned consistently strong approval ratings and even lead a couple of polls in that regard, it nonetheless arrested the gradual decline they had been in since 2015.
* The Green Party were the major losers of the election. After having their best-ever result in the 2019 election, long-time party leader Elizabeth May (MP for Saanich--Gulf Islands) retired and was succeeded by Annamie Paul, who became the first woman of colour to lead a major Canadian political party. Despite an encouraging start to her leadership, which saw Paul only narrowly fail to win a by-election in Toronto Centre, the party soon descended into infighting, leading to one of the party's three [=MPs=] (Jenica Atwin, MP for Fredericton) crossing the floor to the Liberals. In the ensuing election, Paul was accused of neglecting the party's political base of British Columbia in favour of trying to make a breakthrough in Ontario, and while the party did succeed in winning their first seat in the province (Kitchener Centre, largely in part because the Liberals disowned their candidate and ceased campaigning there), they lost their other British Columbia seat of Nanaimo--Ladysmith, leaving them down to two [=MPs=] and, more noticeably, having lost over half their popular vote share from the previous election. As a result, Paul announced her resignation a week after the election.
* The People's Party of Canada (PPC), a right-wing libertarian [[StartMyOwn breakaway party]] formed by one-time Conservative leadership contender Maxime Bernier, had largely been dismissed as a joke party after attracting just 1.6% of the vote in 2019. This time around, while they again failed to win any seats, they more than tripled their share of the popular vote by appealing to the anti-vaccination crowd, moving ahead of the Greens in the popular vote tally. Though questions remain about their ability to win seats in parliament (especially since Bernier himself went down to a far heavier defeat in his former riding of Beauce than in 2019), it looks like the PPC are in it for the long haul, and could potentially be a thorn in the side of the Conservatives, having cost them seats via vote-splitting in both 2019 and 2021.

Municipal politics tends to be officially nonpartisan, except in British Columbia and in Montreal, Quebec. However, individual councillors and mayors are often known to have particular partisan leanings — for example, Jack Layton, former leader of the federal NDP, was a member of the Toronto City Council before he won the leadership, and the current mayor of Toronto, John Tory, once led the Ontario PC Party and worked for the federal [=PCs=] before they collapsed.

A lesser-known national unity issue is so-called "Western alienation", the notion held by some in the western provinces that they have been alienated (and in extreme cases excluded) from mainstream political affairs in favour of Ontario and Quebec. This has fueled separatist movements in the west in general and Alberta in particular, with that province having two active (though small) separatist parties in 2021. That said, western separatist sentiment has yet to reach the critical mass that it has in Quebec.

Sex scandals are rarer than in the States. Despite stereotypes that Canadian politicians are better behaved in this respect, it is just more probable that the Canadian media are less likely to report on it and/or the Canadian populace less inclined to care. Two notable exceptions are the Gerda Munsinger case, which embarrassed the federal government of John Diefenbaker and prompted the resignation of a federal Cabinet minister, and the Colin Thatcher case, which centered around a former minister in the Saskatchewan provincial government who was arrested and convicted of the murder of his wife JoAnn after she divorced him for his numerous extramarital affairs.

Two more recent cases of what could be described as "sex scandals" have happened within the past few years. One involved the ''very'' public 2005 breakup of two prominent Conservative [=MPs=], Belinda Stronach and Peter [=MacKay=], who had been dating, when Stronach defected to the Liberals for a Cabinet post — which she lost the next year after the Liberals lost an election — leading to a stunned-looking [=MacKay=] standing on his farm talking about how "at least my dog is loyal," and a narrow aversion of an election in the now evenly-divided House (since the government can’t fall on a tie, and Stronach’s defection got them up to parity). It also led to a massive variety of ribald jokes at Stronach's expense from prominent Conservatives, the most notable of which is then-Alberta Premier Ralph Klein's assertion that "She didn’t have a Conservative bone in her body ...okay, maybe one," many of which naturally proved controversial in their own right. The other involved Maxime Bernier, then the Foreign Affairs Minister dating a woman with connections to a chapter of the Hell's Angels and actually leaving important classified documents lying around her apartment followed by their mysterious disappearance.

The more recent 'robocall' scandal had its roots in the 2011 federal election. It came to light that ''someone'' was sending automated 'robocalls' (and, in some cases, targeted live calls) to non-Conservative or ex-Conservative voters in a number of different ridings, falsely directing them to incorrect polling stations or otherwise harassing them into not voting at all. Elections Canada got wind of these incidents via complaints from the public, and since the scandal broke they have accumulated over ''31,000 reports'' of similar calls from across Canada. In the most high-profile case, in the Ontario riding of Guelph, Elections Canada has traced at least some of the calls to a subsidiary of an automated calling company in Edmonton, which in turn was contacted both by the Guelph Conservative campaign as well as a disposable mobile phone registered under the alias "Pierre Poutine" of "Separatist Street" in Joliette, Quebec. (The "Pierre Poutine" name was likely taken from an independent food caterer in Guelph, while the "Separatist Street" location was probably a crude attempt at a TakeThat to the Quebec independence movement.) In another riding where voter suppression tactics have been alleged (Nipissing–Timiskaming), the Conservative won by just ''eighteen votes'', and this was far from the only close riding across the country, potentially making the difference between a majority and minority government. The opposition NDP and Liberals rather predictably reacted with outrage, while the Conservatives naturally denied any responsibility, though a low-ranking Conservative staffer from the Guelph campaign resigned his position at the office of a Toronto-area MP. Spinoff allegations have included voter registration fraud as well as illegal campaign financing. Federal opinion polls registered minimal impact as a result of the ‘robocall scandal’; a federal judge offered the Tories a not-quite-absolution in April 2013.

On the municipal level, in May 2013, reporters from ''The Toronto Star'' and gossip website ''Gawker'' reported that they had viewed and been offered a video showing Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine and making homophobic slurs. Though Ford had a well-documented history of mild to belligerent public intoxication, he denied and evaded questions for several months — until, in October 2013, the Toronto police reported that they had recovered a deleted copy of what appears to be that same video from a hard drive seized in an anti-drug raid. Ford then changed his story and admitted to "probably" having used crack cocaine in the midst of a "drunken stupor," while blaming the media for not asking the right questions (which they had, and he had ignored) and claiming that he was not an addict. With Ford and several of his associates and assistants now under police investigation, Toronto City Council banded together to strip him of most of his powers (at least those which they could remove under provincial laws) along with his staff and budget, and shift them to the deputy mayor. Rob Ford responded by playing the victim of a "coup d'état" while proudly going on to contest the 2014 municipal election. Not long after losing most of his mayoral powers, another crack video surfaced, this time with screenshots, forcing Mayor Ford to enter rehab. He continued to run for Mayor upon leaving rehab, but a hospital visit revealed an abdominal tumor. Mayor Ford withdrew from the mayoral race, opting to run for his old Ward 2 seat on City Council. He died on March 22, 2016. Rob’s brother Doug (the then Ward 2 councillor) submitted his papers to run for mayor with one hour to spare before the nomination deadline. In the end, John Tory became mayor ...but Doug Ford got the last laugh by becoming premier of Ontario in 2018, a position Tory had run for in 2007 as leader of the Ontario Conservative Party and lost.

* The Green Party were the major losers of the election. After having their best-ever result in the 2019 election, long-time party leader Elizabeth May (MP for Saanich--Gulf Islands) retired and was succeeded by Annamie Paul, who became the first woman of colour to lead a major Canadian political party. Despite an encouraging start to her leadership, which saw Paul only narrowly fail to win a by-election in Toronto Centre, the party soon descended into infighting, leading to one of the party's three [=MPs=] (Jenica Atwin, MP for Fredericton) crossing the floor to the Liberals. In the ensuing election, Paul was accused of neglecting the party's political base of British Columbia in favour of trying to make a breakthrough in Ontario, and while the party did succeed in winning their first seat in the province (Kitchener Centre, largely in part because the Liberals disowned their candidate and ceased campaigning there), they lost their other British Columbia seat of Nanaimo--Ladysmith, leaving them down to two [=MPs=] and, more noticeably, having lost over half their popular vote share from the previous election.

** The size of this body varies, and in practice, it increases size every decade after each census. From the 2004 federal election until 2015, there were 308 ridings, whereupon thirty new districts were added beginning from the 2015 election. These ridings were added largely in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia to balance a shifting population. Many of the old ridings were simultaneously redrawn by a nonpartisan federal commission[[note]]Canada was an early adopter of such nonpartisan electoral redistribution -- the idea is commonly credited to the 1950s government of Manitoba.[[/note]] at the same time and for the same reason.

** The Senate, following a bit from its UsefulNotes/{{American|PoliticalSystem}} counterpart, also allows for some regional representation, where the number of senators from each region is much more equalized. [[note]]24 each for Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes(PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), the West (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia), six for Newfoundland, and one for each territory[[/note]]. Indeed, it's almost reversed in some ways, with the more populous Western provinces having far fewer senators ''per capita'' than the smaller Atlantic ones; as a result, Western premiers are the most likely to complain about senatorial imbalance.

Federal responsibilities include foreign affairs, defence, justice,[[note]]This refers to all criminal law and criminal prosecution, the opposite of how things work in the USA.[[/note]] agriculture, Indigenous affairs, administration of the territories (to an extent), governing interactions between the provinces, and providing equalization, essentially welfare payments to poorer provinces. The federal government also oversees a pile of agencies, such as Canada Post, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)[[note]]The federal police force; it also serves, by contract with the applicable provincial/territorial governments, as the provincial and municipal police everywhere except Ontario and Quebec.[[/note]] and the [[Creator/{{CBC}} Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]].

Canada is divided into ten provinces — from east to west: Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island (‘P.E.I.’), New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia (‘B.C.’) — and three territories: Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and the Yukon.

Each province elects a Legislative Assembly, whose members are normally named Members of the Legislative Assembly ([=MLAs=]), though Ontario calls them Members of Provincial Parliament ([=MPPs=]), Quebec calls them Members of the National Assembly ([=MNAs=]), and Newfoundland calls them Members of the House of Assembly ([=MHAs=]). All provinces and the Yukon use a similar electoral system as the federal House of Commons does, though generally the ridings are different.[[note]]Ontario is an exception, as most provincial ridings there are identical to the federal ridings.[[/note]] The leader of the party with the most members generally becomes the Premier of a given province or territory, though there are occasional exceptions when two smaller parties form a coalition to create a majority — this happened in Ontario in 1985, when the Ontario New Democratic Party made a formal agreement with the Liberal minority government.

One of the most interesting comparisons between the Canadian and U.S. political systems is in seeing how they have evolved since their founding. The American Founding Fathers conferred all powers not explicitly provided to the federal government to the states, leading to what was in theory a decentralized country. When UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, many British North American observers blamed the conflict on America’s decentralized political structure. The Fathers of Confederation thus made sure that the new Dominion of Canada would have a much more centralized system, even explicitly giving the federal government the power to disallow provincial legislation. Many of the English-speaking Fathers even wanted a “legislative union” like Britain, which would simply fuse all the colonies into a larger one, in the process erasing all colonial borders. However, the mainly French-speaking Fathers from Lower Canada (which would become Quebec) were adamantly opposed to this because they would become a mere minority,[[note]]The Anglophone Maritime Fathers also opposed it for the same reason, but it’s less well remembered than Quebec opposition because, well, {{History Repeat|s}}ed in Quebec’s case.[[/note]] and so Confederation became a federal system, albeit a strongly centralized one.

American-style social conservatism is conversely regarded as a fringe view [[note]]more so the more east you travel in Canada (excepting British Columbia); the Prairies have a sizeable portion of social conservatives as well [[/note]], with the conservative politicians focusing on fiscal issues. Indeed, this was a bone of contention for some of more [[MoralGuardians moralistic]] Conservative [=MPs=] under Stephen Harper and remains an issue for the Conservative Party post-Harper. Canadian conservatives tend to be fiscally conservative, supporting low taxes and local control, while remaining much more socially liberal and secular compared to their American counterparts. Their closest relatives on the U.S. right are libertarians like UsefulNotes/RonPaul and Gary Johnson.

** The Senate, following a bit from its UsefulNotes/{{American|PoliticalSystem}} counterpart, also allows for some regional representation, where the number of senators from each region is much more equalized. [[labelnote:*]]24 each for Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes(PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), the West (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia), six for Newfoundland, and one for each territory[[/note]]. Indeed, it's almost reversed in some ways, with the more populous Western provinces having far fewer senators ''per capita'' than the smaller Atlantic ones; as a result, Western premiers are the most likely to complain about senatorial imbalance.

* The Bloc Québécois, having made a comeback in 2019 under the leadership of Yves-Francois Blanchet (MP for Beloiel--Chambly) after seeming dead and buried for most of the 2010s, seemed to be in a bit of trouble going into the campaign and were widely expected to lose some seats. Then came some unexpected help - from the moderator of the ''English'' debate. Blanchet was asked a question perceived by many in Quebec to be inflammatory and insulting, and the Bloc regained much of their lost support in the following days after being seen as defending Quebec values from the English during the debate. On election night, they made modest progress, slightly improving their popular vote share and winning an extra seat, cementing their place as the third-largest party in parliament.

* The Liberal Party, having earned strong poll ratings for its handling of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, were hoping to return to majority government status. However, Justin Trudeau's (MP for Papineau) calling an election nearly backfired disastrously, as the Conservative Party raced into a huge lead early in the campaign, due to backlash over the government's handling of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, as well was what was seen by some as Trudeau's hubris for calling the election in the first place. Despite this, the party slowly clawed back in the polls over the course of the campaign, with some help from Conservative gaffes. In the end they gained a handful of seats despite still being behind in the popular vote (albeit by less than in 2019), leaving Trudeau still in charge of a relatively comfortable minority government [[HereWeGoAgain very similar to the one he just dissolved]].

Because of the multiparty system, where the party with the most votes may not have a majority, minority governments have occurred several times at both provincial and federal levels. Four of the last six federal elections have resulted in minority governments.

* The Liberal Party, having earned strong poll ratings for its handling of the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, were hoping to return to majority government status. However, Justin Trudeau's (MP for Papineau) calling an election nearly backfired disastrously, as the Conservative Party raced into a huge lead early in the campaign, due to backlash over the government's handling of its withdrawal from Afghanistan, as well was what was seen by some as Trudeau's hubris for calling the election in the first place. Despite this, the party slowly clawed back in the polls over the course of the campaign, leading to the paradoxical result of the Liberals losing the popular vote by an even larger margin than in 2019, but actually winning a few extra seats, leaving Trudeau still in charge of a relatively comfortable minority government.
* The Conservatives, barely a year after the election of Erin O'Toole (MP for Durham) as leader, seemed ill-prepared for an election, but nonetheless got off to a strong start in the campaign, leaving it suddenly looking possible that O'Toole might steer the party to an improbable victory. However, various factors -- including vote-splitting caused by a stronger-than-expected performance from the People's Party, a manifesto that was accused of being virtually indistinguishable from that of the Liberals, and Jason Kenney's provincial Conservative government in Alberta coming under fire for its diffident handling of a new COVID wave -- eroded their poll lead and lead to a performance virtually identical to that of 2019, actually leaving them slightly further behind the Liberals than they already were in terms of seats in parliament.
* The Bloc Québécois, having made a comeback in 2019 under the leadership of Yves-Francois Blanchet (MP for Beloiel--Chambly) after seeming dead and buried for most of the 2010s, made modest progress, slightly improving their popular vote share and winning a couple of extra seats, cementing their place as the third-largest party in parliament.

* The Green Party were the major losers of the election. After having their best-ever result in the 2019 election, long-time party leader Elizabeth May (MP for Saanich--Gulf Islands) retired and was succeeded by Annamie Paul, who became the first woman of colour to lead a major Canadian political party. Despite an encouraging start to her leadership, which saw Paul only narrowly fail to win a by-election in Toronto Centre, the party soon descended into infighting, leading to one of the party's three [=MPs=] Jenica Atwin (MP for Fredericton) cross the floor to the Liberals. In the ensuing election, Paul was accused of neglecting the party's political base of British Columbia in favour of trying to make a breakthrough in Ontario, and while the party did succeed in winning their first seat in the province (Kitchener Centre, largely in part because the Liberals disowned their candidate and ceased campaigning there), they lost their other British Columbia seat of Nainamo--Ladysmith, leaving them down to two [=MPs=] and, more noticeably, having lost over half their popular vote share from the previous election.

Following the 2019 federal election, the current standings are as follows:
* The Liberal Party, despite having flown high in the polls during the first two years of Justin Trudeau's (MP for Papineau) national leadership, began to stumble in 2018 for various reasons including the unpopularity of Kathleen Wynne's provincial Liberal government in Ontario, a series of gaffe-prone official visits, and most damagingly, the emergence of the SNC-Lavalin scandal and Trudeau's alleged attempt to cover it up by firing Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould and later expelling her from the party.[[note]]Short version: A large Montreal-based engineering firm that had committed many ethical transgressions, most famously in UsefulNotes/{{Libya}}, had lobbied the government to introduce a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) as a legal option that would allow it to escape legal consequences for its actions temporarily. That paid off, but when Wilson-Raybould declined to offer SNC a DPA, Trudeau and his staffers lobbied her ''personally'' to try to change her mind, which contradicted the principle of prosecutorial independence.[[/note]] The scandal caused the Liberals' poll numbers to tank at the start of 2019, and it looked odds-on that Trudeau would not be re-elected. However, they managed to recover and just barely held onto power at the election, albeit being reduced to a minority government, with 157 out of 338 seats. Ironically, Justin Trudeau's father, UsefulNotes/{{Pierre|Trudeau}}, met the same fate at his first re-election in 1972.
* The Conservatives, after two years of poor polling numbers following the 2015 election, quickly began to regroup after Andrew Scheer's (MP for Regina-Qu'Appelle) election as party leader in 2017 and led in the polls at various points in 2018 and 2019. However, they could not maintain said polling leads for very long, and entered the election polling roughly equal numbers to the Liberals. In the end, their campaign was hurt by various factors -- in particular, a platform that was accused of appealing a little too stridently to the party's western base while offering little to the more populous Ontario and Quebec, being caught off guard by the Bloc's resurgence in Quebec, and Doug Ford's provincial Conservative government in Ontario suffering a steep decline in popularity during 2019 -- resulting in them actually winning the nationwide popular vote by 200,000 votes[[note]]Mostly off the back of winning a number of absurdly huge majorities in Alberta (where they won 33 out of 34 seats), Saskatchewan (all 14 seats), and rural Manitoba (all five southern Manitoba seats outside Winnipeg and two that extended into Winnipeg, from which they'd been shut out in 2015). By contrast, the Liberals won a lot of closer races in Ontario, Quebec, and to a lesser extent, British Columbia.[[/note]] and winning almost as many seats as former Prime Minister Stephen Harper did when he won his first mandate in 2006 (121 vs. 124), but falling 36 seats short of the Liberals and thus not being able to form a government due to no other party having the numbers needed for the Tories even to overtake the Liberals, much less hold a majority in the Commons. It was the first "wrong-winner" federal election since 1979, when the Liberals won the most votes but the then-Progressive Conservatives won the most seats. Scheer announced his resignation as leader several weeks after the election, leading to a new leadership election in August 2020. While Peter [=MacKay=], who had been the last Progressive Conservative leader and later led the National Defence, Justice, and Foreign Affairs departments under Harper, was initially favoured to win, he ended up being heavily defeated by Erin O'Toole (MP for Durham); while this was attributed partly to [=MacKay=] running what was seen as a lacklustre, complacent campaign, it has also been interpreted as a mandate for maintaining the social conservatism that marked Scheer's leadership, plus the latter stages of Harper's tenure as PM.
* The Bloc Québécois, having looked dead and buried for most of 2018 after former leader Martine Oullet's leadership proved so deeply unpopular that all but three of their [=MPs=] temporarily split off to form a new party, enjoyed an incredible resurgence in popularity after Quebec Assembly member Yves-François Blanchet became party leader at the start of 2019. Blanchet dialled the party's position back from openly advocating the secession of Quebec to only suggesting it as an absolute last resort, and this plus the Conservative platform and the poor reception of Scheer's campaign in the province saw them post their best performance since 2008, coming a very close second behind the Liberals in the seat count for the province (32 vs. 35), becoming the third-largest party again, and regaining official party status after losing it in 2011.
* The NDP continued their slow decline that began at the 2015 election, losing further ground. In 2017 the party elected Jagmeet Singh, then deputy leader of the Ontario NDP, as leader, making him the first person from a visible minority (as a practising Sikh) to lead a Canadian political party.[[note]]Singh wasn't the first non-Christian NDP leader: David Lewis, who led them from 1972 to 1975, was an atheist who was raised Jewish.[[/note]] While Singh's installation as leader was initially well-received, the NDP's polling numbers gradually slumped in 2018 and early 2019, as voters became increasingly skeptical of Singh's ability to lead the party (it didn't much help that he didn't initially hold a seat, only winning Burnaby South in a by-election just eight months before the national election). The election campaign, and especially the official leaders' debates, saw Singh finally come into his own, leading to hopes that he might be able to replicate former leader Jack Layton's polling surge in the 2011 election. However, it ended up proving too little, too late,[[note]]It probably didn't help that while Justin Trudeau became a somewhat divisive figure, he was still nowhere '''near''' as overwhelmingly disliked as then-Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff was in 2011.[[/note]] and between their support in Quebec largely returning to the Bloc (BQ leader Blanchet won his federal seat of Beloeil-Chambly from an NDP incumbent, for example) and voters elsewhere voting Liberal to keep the Tories out, they ended up winning just 24 seats, their weakest electoral performance since 2004. They at least held the consolation of being the {{kingmaker|Scenario}}s in the new parliament, with Trudeau being dependent on their support to remain as prime minister.
* The Green Party made further progress compared to the 2015 election, though perhaps not by as much as they had hoped. Having picked up Nanaimo-Ladysmith from the NDP in a by-election earlier in the year, and with their pro-environmental policies proving a hit with voters, many polls were putting them near-equal to the NDP, leading to hopes for a breakthrough. In the end, they nearly doubled their nationwide popular vote share, but ended up with just three [=MPs=] (the third beat the Liberal incumbent in Fredericton, which contains the eponymous capital of New Brunswick); while still a very respectable performance considering the party's size and resources, it ended their hopes of being possible kingmakers in the new Parliament. Afterwards, long-time party leader Elizabeth May announced her retirement from the position, though remains as an MP. May was eventually succeeded in October 2020 by Annamie Paul, who became the first black person to become leader of a major Canadian political party. In 2021, they lost one of their three [=MPs=], when Jenica Atwin (MP for Fredericton) switched to the Liberals over a disagreement with Paul's policies towards UsefulNotes/{{Israel}}.
* The People's Party of Canada (PPC) were the new kids on the block. Formed in September 2018 by Scheer's Conservative leadership runner-up Maxime Bernier, it has a broadly similar range of political positions to the Tories, but with a more populist bent and a much more firmly libertarian and anti-immigration stance. Their policies failed to find much favour among voters, however, and their campaign ended in disaster, with Bernier losing his own seat (Beauce) by over 6,000 votes to the Conservative challenger, and no other PPC candidate coming even vaguely close to winning a seat -- to add insult to injury, the most they likely achieved was throwing a few seats to the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc due to vote-splitting from the Tories -- with their total of 292,808 votes, a meagre 1.64% share,[[note]]For perspective, this is about what the defunct Social Credit Party got in the 1980 election, which saw them shut out of Parliament for the last time -- and unlike the People's Party, they generally only bothered nominating candidates in Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia, rather than nationwide.[[/note]] leading to many questions about the party's long-term viability.
* Lastly, former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould was the sole independent MP elected to Parliament, comfortably defeating the Liberal challenger in her riding, Vancouver Granville. So far, she has indicated that she will likely remain independent for the foreseeable future, rather than either trying to rejoin the Liberals or joining one of the other parties. She announced in summer 2021 that she would not seek re-election at the next federal election.

** The Senate, following a bit from its UsefulNotes/{{American|PoliticalSystem}} counterpart, also allows for some regional representation, where the number of senators from each province is much more equalized. Indeed, it's almost reversed in some ways, with the more populous Western provinces having far fewer senators ''per capita'' than the smaller Atlantic ones; as a result, Western premiers are the most likely to complain about senatorial imbalance.

* The Bloc Québécois, a [[SingleIssueWonk Quebec separatist party]] with a very slight centre-left orientation overall, was the dominant party in Quebec and a significant force in Parliament from 1993 to 2011, but lost its party status and all but four seats in the 2011 election, leaving them as TheRemnant. They made a modest comeback in 2015, winning ten seats, which was still not enough to return them to official party status. In early 2018, disagreements over the Bloc's newest leader led to the tiny caucus splintering further to create the "Quebec parliamentary group", though the rebel [=MPs=] would return to the party later in the year. Come 2019, and the party recieved enough votes to be an official party once more, and the third-largest party overall given the many seats the NDP lost.

Provincial politics tends to have the Conservatives, Liberals, and NDP as the primary parties as well, though there are exceptions: both Saskatchewan's Saskatchewan Party and B.C.'s Liberal Party are in practice mergers of provincial Liberals and Conservatives in opposition to both provinces' powerful NDP, Alberta conservatives saw a decade of division between the more conservative Wild Rose Party and the old Progressive Conservatives before they reunited in 2017, and Quebec politics is just plain weird because it includes a secessionist-federalist spectrum in addition to the typical left-right and authoritarian-libertarian spectrums.[[note]]It features the slightly left-leaning, separatist Parti Québécois (PQ), the slightly right-leaning, federalist Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), the centre-right, autonomist Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), and the openly socialist and separatist Québec Solidaire. In practice, however, the provincial parties in Quebec all have moderate and extreme factions, united more by their position on the sovereignty question than anything else. The CAQ claims to eschew the entire federalism-separatism debate, and has lately been poaching voter support and [=MNAs=] from the Liberals, the PQ, and the defunct ADQ. One thing to note: Quebec is somewhat to the left of Canada in general, notably on social issues, and as such, the Quebec Liberal Party is very similar to the federal Conservative Party. Indeed, former Quebec premier Jean Charest rose to prominence as a Cabinet minister in the 1980s Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney, and even became the party's leader after the 1993 wipeout, before becoming leader of the Quebec Liberals.[[/note]] The NDP does frequently win in provincial elections, especially in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia where, for historical reasons, they're the only major left-wing party in a two-party system and thus viable contenders for government by default.

UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} is a federal parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the sovereign, currently [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Queen Elizabeth II]] (since 1952), who is represented by the Governor General, a position which is currently vacant.[[note]]Chief Justice Richard Wagner is serving as the Administrator of Canada (i.e. acting Governor General but without the actual title) until a new GG is appointed[[/note]] The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Justin Trudeau (since 2015).[[note]]The role of Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, currently Chrystia Freeland (since 2019), has no standing in Canadian law. It is not an equivalent to a Vice President, but rather is a way for a PM to show trust or favour to a member of their Cabinet.[[/note]] Any citizen at least 18 years old may vote in any election, with two exceptions: the Chief and Deputy Chief Electoral Officers.

* The '''Canadian Senate''' has 105 members, all appointed and serving until a mandatory retirement age of 75 (established under a 1965 law prior to which Senators served for life). In one case, the appointed Senator was chosen in a special election by the province he represents.[[note]]He represents Alberta and joined the Red Chamber on the prime-ministerial watch of Stephen Harper, befitting the call for an elected upper chamber his old party regularly sounded.[[/note]] The Senate has generally rubber-stamped legislation from the House of Commons for decades and is not allowed to introduce financial legislation. Technically, the Senate is the place for “sober second thought”, where the mobbish tendencies of democracy can be curbed and where legislation can be considered away from public pressure. The Senate can suggest changes to the bills or delay a bill until it expires on the table, but it has almost never defeated one outright.

* The '''Governor General of Canada''', position currently vacant (the Chief Justice has been serving as Administrator since the last GG's resignation in 2021), is the representative of the Sovereign and has a mammoth assortment of powers ranging from the ability to dissolve Parliament, appoint Senators, Supreme Court Justices, all high-ranking bureaucrats, and the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Governor General is also Commander-in-Chief of the [[UsefulNotes/CanucksWithChinooks Canadian military]]. However, these powers are bound by a large amount of unwritten convention, and are almost never used except on instruction from the Prime Minister — the last time they were, in 1926, the resulting “King-Byng Affair” resulted in a massive public outcry that ended in the re-election of Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King, whom Governor General Lord Byng had rejected.[[note]]Mackenzie King was Prime Minister despite the fact that his Liberal Party didn't even have the most seats in the House of Commons. When he tried to ask Lord Byng to dissolve Parliament after it voted against his government and call an election, he refused and appointed Conservative leader Arthur Meighen as PM instead. Meighen fared no better, so an election was called, which Mackenzie King handily won.[[/note]] The Governor General is, in theory, supposed to be chosen by the Sovereign from a list of candidates suggested by the Prime Minister. For some time now, the Prime Minister’s list of Governor General appointees has been exactly one name long.

Canada's system of government separates the roles of head of government (day-to-day work of governing) from head of state (primarily ceremonial). The Prime Minister is the head of the Canadian government. To become Prime Minister you must be chosen as your party’s leader on top of being an elected representative, in a manner strikingly similar to the Speaker of the House in American politics. Due to the nature of the Westminster-style parliament, Canada’s executive branch is closely intertwined with the legislative, so executive powers are excercised primarily through to the office of the Prime Minister and their Cabinet, who are also sitting [=MPs=] (or rarely senators). Canadians do not vote for the Prime Minister directly, however; instead, they vote for the Member of Parliament in their riding only (though if their MP is a party leader, ''then'' they can say they're voting for a potential Prime Minister). The party with the most seats in the House of Commons forms the government with the leader of that party as Prime Minister. A government can be a majority government (when the governing party controls more than half the seats) or a minority government (when they control less than half the seats)[[note]]Usually, but not necessarily, they still have more seats than any single party. For instance, Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King retained power after one election with another party's support even though the Conservatives had more seats.[[/note]] and the Prime Minister is then appointed based on having the "confidence" or support of the House of Commons.[[note]]Theoretically, whenever where there is a minority government, some of the other parties could get together and form a coalition government if they can get a simple majority of the House’s membership onside with them (meaning, practically, that those parties must have more than half of [=MPs=] between them). However, this has never happened formally since Confederation; the one time it seemed like this might happen, in 2008, it was kiboshed by the ruling Conservatives’ clever exploitation of EaglelandOsmosis and general distrust of the separatist Bloc Québécois. For all intents and purposes, the “Unionist Party” that ran in 1917 was a coalition between the governing Conservatives and members of the Liberal Opposition who supported the Government’s plan to impose conscription to muster manpower for Canada’s [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI war]] effort.[[/note]]

One of the most interesting comparisons between the Canadian and U.S. political systems is in seeing how they have evolved since their founding. The American Founding Fathers conferred all powers not explicitly provided to the federal government to the states, leading to what was in theory a decentralized country. When UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar broke out, many British North American observers blamed the conflict on America’s decentralized political structure. The Fathers of Confederation thus made sure that the new Dominion of Canada would have a much more centralized system, even explicitly giving the federal government the power to disallow provincial legislation. Many of the English-speaking Fathers even wanted a “legislative union” like Britain, which would simply fuse all the colonies into a larger one, in the process erasing all colonial borders. However, the French-speaking Fathers of Lower Canada (which would become Quebec) were adamantly opposed to this because they would become a mere minority,[[note]]The Anglophone Maritime Fathers also opposed it for the same reason, but it’s less well remembered than Quebec opposition because, well, HistoryRepeats in Quebec’s case.[[/note]] and so Confederation became a federal system, albeit a strongly centralized one.

However, while the Canadian government had more power on paper, various factors ranging from court decisions to simple constitutional convention (the unwritten expectations of how the system works) meant that the Canadian provinces gained much stronger control over their constitutional areas of responsibility, even as the federal government’s powers to disallow provincial legislation have pretty much fallen into disuse. In the U.S., on the other hand, the federal government has encroached on traditionally state-controlled areas, mainly through an expansive reading of the Commerce Clause. That doesn’t fly north of the border. The U.S. has been more decentralized on paper but it has become more centralized over time, while Canada has gone in the opposite direction. More recently, Canada instituted a major regulatory overhaul in 2012 which mandates that the issuance of any new regulation that places a significant administrative burden on business must be accompanied by the elimination of at least one existing regulation of that type. So far, the U.S. has yet to institute such a reform.

Intergovernmental relations are so important in Canada that since 2003, a permanent body called the [[https://canadaspremiers.ca Council of the Federation]] comprising all the subnational first ministers has met intending to promote such co-operation and mutual advancement. One reason the Harper government lost much of its support (and its mandate, eventually) was that people thought it (''especially'' Stephen Harper) had come to denigrate the provinces' needs, just like its predecessors for some time before. Notably, Justin Trudeau named himself minister for intergovernmental affairs in his first cabinet, suggesting to many at the time that he took the issue more seriously than Harper; however, relations between the Liberal federal government and Conservative provincial governments soured in a matter of years. Some people accused Trudeau of trying to pander to the West, in large swaths of which his name was mud, when he reassigned Intergovernmental Affairs to Chrystia Freeland, formerly trade and foreign minister (she was born in Alberta but represents and lives in Toronto), after the 2019 federal election, though [[https://www.macleans.ca/politics/what-chrystia-freelands-real-role-will-be/ many other people called that hogwash]]. Several premiers have also assigned themselves that portfolio in their territory/province.

A variation of the normal election cycle ''almost'' occurred in December 2008 when the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Québécois drew up a formal agreement to topple the ruling Conservative minority government in a non-confidence vote just six weeks after the election and ask the Governor General to install them as a majority coalition government without triggering another election. While such an act is perfectly legitimate in a parliamentary democracy, it is quite unorthodox in Canada and the Conservatives countered by delaying the vote until January and launching a media blitz characterizing the act as a "coup d’état", banking on the assumption (proved correct) that many Canadians didn't know how their government actually worked. The uncertainty of the Great Recession and the fact the coalition would have required the support of the separatist Bloc Québécois and made the unpopular Stéphane Dion the next Prime Minister even though his Liberal Party had just suffered its worst vote-share (26%) since 1867 also made the idea troubling even to many who understood its constitutionality, and the idea died in December when the Liberals replaced Dion with Michael Ignatieff and backed down.[[note]]Conveniently for the Conservatives, it also obscured Stephen Harper's participation in a similar pact with the NDP and Bloc after the Liberals fell from majority to minority status after the 2004 election.[[/note]]

A new variation happened in the 2015 election: while Parliament could still have been dissolved at any time, the election date was fixed on October 19 (the third Monday in October 2015) as described above,[[note]]Although the government can theoretically ignore this law and have the election on any day they wanted.[[/note]] meaning the campaign could have lasted anywhere from the standard 36–40 days to many months. Indeed, the latter scenario came to pass when the election was called and Parliament was dissolved on August 2, resulting in a modern-day record[[note]]The 1872 election lasted up to 89 days in some parts of the country, but as little as ''five days'' in others, because votes could be held at different times in different regions ([[http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/analysis-ruling-parties-have-done-better-in-shorter-election-campaigns-1.2497260 source]]). While this was intended to reflect the new nation’s geographic spread and what was then a lack of infrastructure to traverse it, it also led to some blatant LoopholeAbuse by the ruling Conservatives, which then led to an ObviousRulePatch.[[/note]] campaign length of 78 days.

* The Conservatives, after two years of poor polling numbers following the 2015 election, quickly began to regroup after Andrew Scheer's (MP for Regina-Qu'Appelle) election as party leader in 2017 and led in the polls at various points in 2018 and 2019. However, they could not maintain said polling leads for very long, and entered the election polling roughly equal numbers to the Liberals. In the end, their campaign was hurt by various factors -- in particular, a platform that was accused of appealing a little too stridently to the party's western base while offering little to the more populous Ontario and Quebec, being caught off-guard by the Bloc's resurgence in Quebec, and Doug Ford's provincial Conservative government in Ontario suffering a steep decline in popularity during 2019 -- resulting in them actually winning the nationwide popular vote by 200,000 votes[[note]]Mostly off the back of winning a number of absurdly huge majorities in Alberta (where they won 33 out of 34 seats), Saskatchewan (all 14 seats), and rural Manitoba (all five southern Manitoba seats outside Winnipeg and two that extended into Winnipeg, from which they'd been shut out in 2015). By contrast, the Liberals won a lot of closer races in Ontario, Quebec, and to a lesser extent, British Columbia.[[/note]] and winning almost as many seats as former Prime Minister Stephen Harper did when he won his first mandate in 2006 (121 vs. 124), but falling 36 seats short of the Liberals and thus not being able to form a government due to no other party having the numbers needed for the Tories even to overtake the Liberals, much less hold a majority in the Commons. It was the first "wrong-winner" federal election since 1979, when the Liberals won the most votes but the then-Progressive Conservatives won the most seats. Scheer announced his resignation as leader several weeks after the election, leading to a new leadership election in August 2020. While former Progressive Conservative leader Peter [=MacKay=] was initially favoured to win, he ended up being heavily defeated by Erin O'Toole (MP for Durham); while this was attributed partly to [=MacKay=] running what was seen as a lacklustre, complacent campaign, it has also been interpreted as a mandate for maintaining the social conservatism that marked Scheer's leadership, plus the latter stages of Harper's tenure as PM.

* The NDP continued their slow decline that began at the 2015 election, losing further ground. In 2017 the party elected Jagmeet Singh, then deputy leader of the Ontario NDP, as leader, making him the first person from a visible minority (as a practising Sikh) to lead a Canadian political party.[[note]]Singh wasn't the first non-Christian NDP leader: David Lewis, who led them from 1972 to 1975, was an atheist who was raised Jewish.[[/note]] While Singh's installation as leader was initially well-received, the NDP's polling numbers gradually slumped in 2018 and early 2019, as voters became increasingly sceptical of Singh's ability to lead the party (it didn't much help that he didn't initially hold a seat, only winning Burnaby South in a by-election just eight months before the national election). The election campaign, and especially the official leaders' debates, saw Singh finally come into his own, leading to hopes that he might be able to replicate former leader Jack Layton's polling surge in the 2011 election. However, it ended up proving too little, too late,[[note]]It probably didn't help that while Justin Trudeau has become a somewhat divisive figure, he's still nowhere '''near''' as overwhelmingly disliked as then-Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff was in 2011.[[/note]] and between their support in Quebec largely returning to the Bloc (BQ leader Blanchet won his federal seat of Beloeil-Chambly from an NDP incumbent, for example) and voters elsewhere voting Liberal to keep the Tories out, they ended up winning just 24 seats, their weakest electoral performance since 2004. They at least held the consolation of being the {{kingmaker|Scenario}}s in the new parliament, with Trudeau being dependent on their support to remain as Prime Minister.
* The Green Party made further progress compared to the 2015 election, though perhaps not by as much as they had hoped. Having picked up Nanaimo-Ladysmith from the NDP in a by-election earlier in the year, and with their pro-environmental policies proving a hit with voters, many polls were putting them near-equal to the NDP, leading to hopes for a breakthrough. In the end, they nearly doubled their nationwide popular vote share, but ended up with just three [=MPs=] (the third beat the Liberal incumbent in Fredericton, which contains the eponymous capital of New Brunswick); while still a very respectable performance considering the party's size and resources, it ended their hopes of being possible kingmakers in the new Parliament. Afterwards, long-time party leader Elizabeth May announced her retirement from the position, though remains as an MP. May was eventually succeeded in October 2020 by Annamie Paul, who became the first black person to become leader of a major Canadian political party. In 2021, they lost one of their three [=MPs=], when Jenica Atwin (MP for Fredericton) defected to the Liberals over a disagreement with Paul's policies towards Israel.
* The People's Party of Canada (PPC) were the new kids on the block. Formed in September 2018 by Scheer's Conservative leadership runner-up Maxime Bernier, it has a broadly similar range of political positions to the Tories, but with a more populist bent and a much firmer libertarian and anti-immigration stance. Their policies failed to find much favour among voters, however, and their campaign ended in disaster, with Bernier losing his own seat (Beauce) by over 6,000 votes to the Conservative challenger, and no other PPC candidate coming even vaguely close to winning a seat -- to add insult to injury, the most they likely achieved was throwing a few seats to the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc due to vote-splitting from the Tories -- with their total of 292,808 votes, a meagre 1.64% share,[[note]]For perspective, this is about what the defunct Social Credit Party got in the 1980 election, which saw them shut out of Parliament for the last time -- and unlike the People's Party, they generally only bothered nominating candidates in Quebec, Alberta, and British Columbia, rather than nationwide.[[/note]] leading to many questions about the party's long-term viability.
* Lastly, former Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould was the sole independent MP elected to Parliament, comfortably defeating the Liberal challenger in her riding, Vancouver Granville. So far, she has indicated that she will likely remain independent for the foreseeable future, rather than either trying to rejoin the Liberals or joining one of the other parties.

The more recent 'robocall' scandal had its roots in the 2011 federal election. It came to light that ''someone'' was sending automated 'robocalls' (and, in some cases, targeted live calls) to non-Conservative or ex-Conservative voters in a number of different ridings, falsely directing them to incorrect polling stations or otherwise harassing them into not voting at all. Elections Canada got wind of these incidents via complaints from the public, and since the scandal broke they have accumulated over ''31,000 reports'' of similar calls from across Canada. In the most high-profile case, in the Ontario riding of Guelph, Elections Canada has traced at least some of the calls to a subsidiary of an automated calling company in Edmonton, which in turn was contacted both by the Guelph Conservative campaign as well as a disposable mobile phone registered under the alias "Pierre Poutine" of "Separatist Street" in Joliette, Quebec. (The "Pierre Poutine" name was likely taken from an independent food caterer in Guelph, while the "Separatist Street" location was probably a crude attempt at a TakeThat to the Quebec independence movement.) In another riding where voter suppression tactics have been alleged (Nipissing–Timiskaming), the Conservative won by just ''eighteen votes'', and this was far from the only close riding across the country, potentially making the difference between a majority and minority government. The opposition NDP and Liberals rather predictably reacted with outrage, while the Conservatives naturally denied any responsibility, though a low-ranking Conservative staffer from the Guelph campaign has since resigned his position at the office of a Toronto-area MP. Spinoff allegations have included voter registration fraud as well as illegal campaign financing. Federal opinion polls registered minimal impact as a result of the ‘robocall scandal’; a federal judge offered the Tories a not-quite-absolution in April 2013.

* The Green Party made further progress compared to the 2015 election, though perhaps not by as much as they had hoped. Having picked up Nanaimo-Ladysmith from the NDP in a by-election earlier in the year, and with their pro-environmental policies proving a hit with voters, many polls were putting them near-equal to the NDP, leading to hopes for a breakthrough. In the end, they nearly doubled their nationwide popular vote share, but ended up with just three [=MPs=] (the third beat the Liberal incumbent in Fredericton, which contains the eponymous capital of New Brunswick); while still a very respectable performance considering the party's size and resources, it ended their hopes of being possible kingmakers in the new Parliament. Afterwards, long-time party leader Elizabeth May announced her retirement from the position, though remains as an MP. May was eventually succeeded in October 2020 by Annamie Paul, who became the first black person to become leader of a major Canadian political party.

* The '''Supreme Court of Canada''', currently led by Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner (not to be confused with the [[Music/RichardWagner German composer]]), comprises nine justices, appointed for unfixed terms with mandatory requirement at age 75. Three justices must always be from Quebec, because Quebec's French-derived civil law system is structured differently than [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonLaw the English-derived common law system]] used elsewhere in the country, and the other six from the rest of Canada. By convention, three of the other six justices are from Ontario, two from the West or the North, and one from the Atlantic provinces.

* The '''Supreme Court of Canada''' comprises nine justices, appointed for unfixed terms, though required to retire at age 75. Three are from Quebec, the other six from the rest of Canada, because Quebec civil law is structured differently than [[UsefulNotes/TheCommonLaw the English-derived systems]] used elsewhere in the country. By convention, three of the other six justices are from Ontario, two from the West or the North, and one from the Atlantic provinces.

The Prime Minister is the head of the Canadian government for all intents and purposes; you must be chosen as your party’s leader on top of being an elected representative, in a manner strikingly similar to the Speaker of the House in American politics. Due to the nature of the Westminster-style parliament, Canada’s executive branch is purely ceremonial, so the usual executive powers are devolved to the office of the Prime Minister and their Cabinet, who are also sitting [=MPs=] (or rarely senators). Canadians do not vote for the Prime Minister directly, however; instead, they vote for the Member of Parliament in their riding only (though if their MP is a party leader, ''then'' they can say they're voting for a potential Prime Minister). The party with the most seats in the House of Commons forms a majority government, when they control more than half the seats, or a minority government, when they control less than half the seats,[[note]]Usually, but not necessarily, they still have more seats than any single party. For instance, Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King retained power after one election with another party's support even though the Conservatives had more seats.[[/note]] and the Prime Minister is then appointed by the party itself.[[note]]Theoretically, whenever where there is a minority government, some of the other parties could get together and form a coalition government if they can get a simple majority of the House’s membership onside with them (meaning, practically, that those parties must have more than half of [=MPs=] between them). However, this has never happened formally since Confederation; the one time it seemed like this might happen, in 2008, it was kiboshed by the ruling Conservatives’ clever exploitation of EaglelandOsmosis and general distrust of the separatist Bloc Québécois. For all intents and purposes, the “Unionist Party” that ran in 1917 was a coalition between the governing Conservatives and members of the Liberal Opposition who supported the Government’s plan to impose conscription to muster manpower for Canada’s [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI war]] effort.[[/note]]

In practice, Canadians know what candidate a party will nominate for Prime Minister during the election cycle: by so-far-unbroken convention, it is the party leader. In the readily possible event that the Prime Minister loses his/her riding, a junior member of the party will typically resign his/her seat for the party leader to win in a by-election, as the Prime Minister is normally expected to have a seat to serve in the government.[[note]]Although it is possible for a prime minister to serve without holding a seat in the House of Commons (see John Turner, 1984), a prime minister without a seat would face public concern about their democratic legitimacy.[[/note]] This happened as early as the 1870s, after John A. Macdonald’s Conservative government collapsed over the Canadian Pacific Railway scandal (see below) and he lost his own seat in Kingston, Ontario. From 1878 to 1882, he represented the riding of Victoria, British Columbia, since he couldn’t get elected in the part of the country he came from.

UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} is a federal parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the sovereign, currently [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Queen Elizabeth II]] (since 1952), who is represented by the Governor-General, a position which is currently vacant.[[note]]Chief Justice Richard Wagner is serving as the Administrator of Canada (i.e. acting Governor-General but without the actual title) until a new GG is appointed[[/note]] The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Justin Trudeau (since 2015).[[note]]The role of Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, currently Chrystia Freeland (since 2019), has no standing in Canadian law. It is not an equivalent to a Vice President, but rather is a way for PMs to show trust or favour to a member of the Cabinet.[[/note]] Any citizen at least 18 years old may vote in any election, with two exceptions: the Chief and Deputy Chief Electoral Officers.

* The '''Governor-General of Canada''', currently Chief Justice Richard Wagner (2021-), is the representative of the Sovereign, appointed in theory by the Sovereign and in practice by the Prime Minister, and has a mammoth assortment of powers, ranging from the ability to dissolve Parliament, appoint Senators, Supreme Court Justices, all high-ranking bureaucrats, and the Prime Minister and Cabinet, though they must keep the approval of the House of Commons. (S)He is also Commander-in-Chief of the [[UsefulNotes/CanucksWithChinooks Canadian military]]. However, these powers are bound by a large amount of unwritten convention, and are almost never used except on instruction from the Prime Minister — the last time they were, in 1926, the resulting “King-Byng Affair” resulted in a massive public outcry that ended in the re-election of Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King, whom Governor-General Lord Byng had rejected.[[note]]Mackenzie King was Prime Minister despite the fact that his Liberal Party didn't even have the most seats in the House of Commons. When he tried to ask Lord Byng to dissolve Parliament after it voted against his government and call an election, he refused and appointed Conservative leader Arthur Meighen as PM instead. Meighen fared no better, so an election was called, which Mackenzie King handily won.[[/note]] The Governor-General is, in theory, supposed to be chosen by the Sovereign from a list of candidates chosen by the Prime Minister. For some time now, the Prime Minister’s list of Governor-General appointees has been exactly one name long.
** An event in which the GG ''can'' become critical is if the Prime Minister starts to show signs of getting dictatorial, at which point the Governor-General, as representative of the Sovereign, can deny Royal Assent to bills that violate fundamental liberties. If need be, as the Governor-General is also the Commander-in-Chief, they can order the army to depose the PM by force.

Each province’s representative of the Sovereign is appointed on recommendation from the Governor-General, this officeholder is called the Lieutenant-Governor.[[note]]Though they now represent the Queen directly, back when Canada was created, they represented the Governor-General and were an instrument through which the federal government could veto provincial legislation; this is now only done if a provincial law is infringing on the federal government's responsibilities.[[/note]] In the territories, the equivalent position is the Commissioner. Unlike Lieutenant Governors, Commissioners are appointed by and represent the federal government and not the Queen directly because the territories constitutionally don't have the same status of sovereignty.[[note]]They used to be powerful administrators who ruled territories directly, before the federal government curbed their powers and instituted democratically elected governments for the territories. Now, like the lieutenant governors, their role is mainly ceremonial.[[/note]]

A variation of the normal election cycle ''almost'' occurred in December 2008 when the Liberals, NDP, and Bloc Québécois drew up a formal agreement to topple the ruling Conservative minority government in a non-confidence vote just six weeks after the election and ask the Governor-General to install them as a majority coalition government without triggering another election. While such an act is perfectly legitimate in a parliamentary democracy, it is quite unorthodox in Canada and the Conservatives countered by delaying the vote until January and launching a media blitz characterizing the act as a "coup d’état", banking on the assumption (proved correct) that many Canadians didn't know how their government actually worked. The uncertainty of the Great Recession and the fact the coalition would have required the support of the separatist Bloc Québécois and made the unpopular Stéphane Dion the next Prime Minister even though his Liberal Party had just suffered its worst vote-share (26%) since 1867 also made the idea troubling even to many who understood its constitutionality, and the idea died in December when the Liberals replaced Dion with Michael Ignatieff and backed down.[[note]]Conveniently for the Conservatives, it also obscured Stephen Harper's participation in a similar pact with the NDP and Bloc after the Liberals fell from majority to minority status after the 2004 election.[[/note]]

UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} is a federal parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the sovereign, currently [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Queen Elizabeth II]] (since 1952), who is represented by the Governor-General, a position which is currently vacant.[[note]]Chief Justice Richard Wagner is serving as the Administrator of Canada (i.e. acting Governor-General but without the actual title) until a new one is appointed[[/note]] The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Justin Trudeau (since 2015).[[note]]The role of Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, currently Chrystia Freeland (since 2019), has no standing in Canadian law. It is not an equivalent to a Vice President, but rather is a way for PMs to show trust or favour to a member of the Cabinet.[[/note]] Any citizen at least 18 years old may vote in any election, with two exceptions: the Chief and Deputy Chief Electoral Officers.

UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} is a federal parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the sovereign, currently [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Queen Elizabeth II]] (since 1952), who is represented by the Governor-General, a position which is currently vacant.[[note]]Chief Justice Richard Wagner is serving as the Administrator of Canada (i.e. acting Governor-General) until a new one is appointed[[/note]] The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Justin Trudeau (since 2015).[[note]]The role of Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, currently Chrystia Freeland (since 2019), has no standing in Canadian law. It is not an equivalent to a Vice President, but rather is a way for PMs to show trust or favour to a member of the Cabinet.[[/note]] Any citizen at least 18 years old may vote in any election, with two exceptions: the Chief and Deputy Chief Electoral Officers.

UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} is a federal parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy. The head of state is the sovereign, currently [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Queen Elizabeth II]] (since 1952), who is represented by the Governor-General, a position which is currently vacant.[[note]]Chief Justice Richard Wagner is serving as the acting Governor-General until a new one is appointed[[/note]] The head of government is the Prime Minister, currently Justin Trudeau (since 2015).[[note]]The role of Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, currently Chrystia Freeland (since 2019), has no standing in Canadian law. It is not an equivalent to a Vice President, but rather is a way for PMs to show trust or favour to a member of the Cabinet.[[/note]] Any citizen at least 18 years old may vote in any election, with two exceptions: the Chief and Deputy Chief Electoral Officers.