CANADIAN FEDERAL ELECTION 2019

[HairOfTheDog]

It's reportedly going to be a very close race for Prime Minister when Canadians go to the polls on 21 October.

And, neither major party is currently expected to have enough support to form a Parliamentary majority, so whomever wins will likely have to align with smaller parties to form the new government.


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (left) is  being challenged by Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer (right).

[HairOfTheDog]

Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party has been Canada's Prime Minister for one 4-year term.

Despite overseeing a relatively strong jobs market and with unemployment levels near record lows, Trudeau’s fight to stay in power has seen many in the country question his authenticity.

That's largely because in mid-September it emerged that the Liberal party leader had worn black face costumes three times, decades ago. He then claimed not to remember on how many occasions he'd done so while apologizing profusely.

Since then, Trudeau has been working hard to shift the focus to climate-related and economic issues, but national polls show him neck and neck with his conservative challenger.

Trudeau and The Liberals have claimed that, if re-elected, they will try to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and will exceed 2030 carbon emission goals.

Yesterday, former U.S. President Barack Obama, who's still very popular in Canada, tweeted an unprecedented endorsement of Trudeau. 

 
Who knows whether that will help or hurt Trudeau in any way.

[HairOfTheDog]

Trudeau's challenger, Andrew Scheer of Canada's Conservative Party, has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Riding of Regina-Qu'Appelle since 2004. He has been Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Official Opposition since 2017.

He was the youngest person to be elected Speaker of the House of Commons at 32 and held the role for the entirety of the 41^st Canadian Parliament. 

Scheer has described himself as focused on economic development, fiscal restraint, and reducing inefficiencies in government.

A staunch opponent of the federal carbon tax, he has stated that he would balance the federal budget within two years of forming a government and open up the airline industry to foreign competition.

[HairOfTheDog]

On everything from climate change to taxes to pharmacare to immigration............the Liberal and Conservative parties in Canada have sharply different visions for the country. 

This is a good recap of the main policy issues and where each party stands:  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics...tion-2019/



Refs:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/17/canada-e...power.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Scheer
https://www.thenation.com/article/jagmee...-election/
https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1...power.html

[Duchess]

Go, Justin, go! I hope he wins.

[Duchess]

As an aside, just in case no one noticed, he's a sexy muthafucka and just as cute as he can be. Hubba Hubba

[BigMark]

I often get mistaken for him.

[Duchess]

You're a funny fucker. Sally, will you give him a belly rub for me?

[Maggot]

The Canadians I know are pissed because he let a shit ton of immigrants in to suck up benefits. Time will tell. These political things tend to bounce back and forth, I see it as an instant gratification calamity hitting the streets today.

[Rootilda]

I saw a bunch of MAGAts on Obama's tweet screaming that he's a foreign agent trying to influence an election.

There's just no end of stupid in this world.

[BigMark]

He's only a foreign agent if your not an American.

[BigMark]

.

[HairOfTheDog]

Today is a big day in Canada as Canadians head for the voting polls.

Here's how Canadian federal elections work and how new governments are formed.

Type of Government
Canada is a officially a federal parliamentary democracy within a constitutional monarchy. 

While the monarch (the head of state) is determined by heredity, Canadians elect members of parliament, and the leader of the party that gets the most seats in parliament becomes Prime Minister. 

The Prime Minister serves as the head of executive power and, therefore, the head of the government. All adult citizens of Canada are eligible to vote but must show positive identification at their polling place.

[HairOfTheDog]

Elections Canada
Elections Canada is a nonpartisan agency that is responsible for the conduct of federal elections, by-elections, and referendums. Elections Canada is headed by the chief electoral officer of Canada, who is appointed by a resolution of the House of Commons.

When Are Federal Elections Held in Canada?
Canadian federal elections are usually held every four years, typically in October. Exceptions can be made, however, especially if the government loses the confidence of the House of Commons and an earlier election is mandated.

Ridings and Members of Parliament
The census determines Canada's electoral districts or ridings. For the 2015 Canadian federal election, the number of ridings increased from 308 to 338 (and remains so for the the 2019 election). 

Voters in each riding elect one Member of Parliament (MP) to send to the House of Commons. (The Senate in Canada is not an elected body).

[HairOfTheDog]

Federal Political Parties
Canada maintains a registry of political parties. 

While 24 parties fielded candidates and received votes in the 2015 election, the Canadian elections website listed 16 registered parties in 2017. Each party can nominate one candidate for each riding.

 Often, representatives of only a handful of federal political parties win seats in the House of Commons. For example, in the 2015 election, only the Conservative Party, the New Democratic Party, the Liberal Party, the Bloc Québécois, and the Green Party saw candidates elected to the House of Commons.

Recently, a couple of the smaller parties have gained steam as some Canadians are turning away from the standard quo associated with the large Liberal and Conservative parties.  The likelihood of a minority government result in 2019 is thus higher than in most previous Canadian elections.

[HairOfTheDog]

Forming the Government
The party that wins the most ridings in a general federal election is asked by the governor-general to form the government. The leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister of Canada.

If the party wins more than half the ridings—that's 170 seats —then it will have a majority government, which makes it much easier to get legislation passed in the House of Commons. 

If the winning party wins 169 seats or fewer, it will form a minority government. In order to get legislation through the House, a minority government usually has to adjust policies to get enough votes from smaller party MPs. 

A minority government must constantly work to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons in order to stay in power.  A Prime Minister leading a minority-formed government usually ends of staying in power about 2 years.

The Official Opposition
The political party that wins the second-highest number of seats in the House of Commons becomes the Official Opposition.

Source:  https://www.thoughtco.com/how-federal-el...ork-510248

[Maggot]

That's almost as if England never left. I will have to read that a few times to "get it"

[HairOfTheDog]

That's almost as if England never left. I will have to read that a few times to "get it"

Yeah, it does have a lot of elements of the English system.  

As in England, the Canadian people don't directly vote in their Prime Minister, as I understand it.

They only vote in Members of Parliament.  The party that gets the most MPs elected wins and the leader of that party becomes the Prime Minister.  The current leaders of the two major Canadian parties, Liberal Trudeau and Conservative Scheer, are reportedly still neck and neck.

Anyway, whether the Liberal or Conservative wins, if the smaller parties take away enough votes from the two dominant parties to prevent a majority for either party in Parliament, the newly elected Prime Minister will have to adjust the agenda to appease the interests of the smaller parties in order to form a new government. 

And, the odds of a Canadian Prime Minister staying in power for a full term while heading a minority-formed government are not great.

The results should be known and announced tonight or tomorrow morning.

[Fry Guy]

Obama endorsed remain didn't he? That worked well. If you vote leave you will go to back of the line

[HairOfTheDog]

Go, Justin, go! I hope he wins.

Well Duchess...................your wish has been granted.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party will hold on to power.  It won the most votes nationwide.

As expected, however, the winning party failied to secure a parliamentary majority.  That means Trudeau will need to work with other parties in order to govern.

Let's hope that Trudeau does better in that regard than Netanyahu has been able to do in Israel (Bebe still hasn't been able to form a government several weeks after his conservative party narrowly won re-election  -- https://www.wsj.com/articles/israels-net...1571679595 ).