Canada's Parliament: Majority Vs. Minority
Differences Between Them Don’t Stop At Seat Count
Sep 7, 2009
Canada has a first-past-the-post electoral system. There are four major parties, the Conservatives, Liberals, New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Bloc Québécois (BQ). The BQ runs only in Quebec, while the other three run in all 308 electoral ridings. The party with the most seats nationally wins government, with their leader becoming Prime Minister.
Majority Government Minimum: 155 Seats
A majority government is one where the victorious party holds more than 50% of the seats. Canada’s parliament with 308 seats cut in half is 154. A majority government would be considered a minimum of 155 seats. Brian Mulroney was the last Conservative leader to have a majority, winning two such mandates. The first was considered an overwhelming majority with Mulroney winning 211 seats, the most in Canadian history. The second came in 1988 when he beat the Liberals. The Liberals won three consecutive majorities, with the first coming in 1993, the second in 1997, and the third in 2000.
Having a majority government means the party in power can push through their agenda. In the 1980’s Mulroney was able to negotiate NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). For Jean Chrétien a majority government meant the ability to balance the federal budget, as well as advance Canada’s foreign policy with little interference from the opposition.
The one major disadvantage to a majority government would be that there’s only one agenda being heard. The party in power has to listen to the opposition, but they don’t have to work with them or use their ideas. A majority government is considered more stable, because there isn’t the constant threat of an election.
Governor General Plays A Role In A Minority Parliament
The other possibility is a minority government. A minority government is where one party doesn’t win the seats necessary for a majority (155), but still wins more than their competitors. Canada has had minority governments since 2003, with current Prime Minister Stephen Harper in power since 2006. His government has 143 seats, the most of all four parties.
A minority government is more complex because the opposition parties control the majority of the seats. The government has to work with them, and often compromise by passing pieces of their agenda in exchange for confidence. The most notable recent example of this process was in 2005, when New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Jack Layton successfully lobbied Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin for amendments to the budget dealing with money spent on infrastructure and social programs.
When the government loses confidence, it means that all opposition parties have voted against them. All matters dealing with finance are considered confidence motions; when Finance Minister Jim Flaherty presented the fall economic update, the opposition parties effectively said they had no longer had confidence in the Harper government.
In the case of a minority government, the Governor-General could potentially decide who runs the country. That was the case last fall when the three opposition parties having lost confidence in the Harper government proposed to replace them with a coalition government. The coalition would have been under Liberal leadership with NDP, and BQ support
Governor-General Michaelle Jean had three options. The first was to dissolve Parliament, and call new elections; this one was eliminated because the country was just coming out of them. The second was to ask Liberal Leader Stephane Dion to meet the House, and attempt to form a government; in this case the coalition. The third was to allow the Prime Minister to suspend Parliament. As long as a government was in office, she had to act on the advice of the Prime Minister. In the end she allowed him to use a rarely used power of suspending Parliament.
The Liberals with 77 seats are the most powerful of the three opposition parties. Their leader Michael Ignatieff has withdrawn his party’s support from the Harper government. This means unless the NDP or BQ support the Conservatives, Canada could face its fourth election in five years.
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