Editing Politics of Canada (section)

===Elections and government formation===
{{More citations needed section|date=October 2018}}
[[Canadians]] vote for the election of their local [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|member of parliament]] (MP) only. A vote is cast directly for a candidate. The candidate in each riding who receives a plurality of votes ([[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post system]]) is elected.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elections Canada |date=2022-10-17 |title=The Electoral System of Canada |url=https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=res&dir=ces&document=part1&lang=e#p11 |access-date=2023-01-21 |website=www.elections.ca}}</ref> An MP need not be a member of any political party: such MPs are known as [[Independent politician|independents]]. When a number of MPs share political opinions they may form a body known as a [[political party]].

The ''[[Canada Elections Act]]'' defines a political party as "an organization one of whose fundamental purposes is to participate in public affairs by endorsing one or more of its members as candidates and supporting their election." Forming and registering a federal political party are two different things. There is no legislation regulating the formation of federal political parties. [[Elections Canada]] cannot dictate how a federal political party should be formed or how its legal, internal and financial structures should be established.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=pol&dir=pol/bck&document=index&lang=e|title=Registration of Federal Political Parties|first=Elections|last=Canada|website=elections.ca|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180201235534/http://elections.ca/content.aspx?section=pol&dir=pol%2Fbck&document=index&lang=e|archive-date=2018-02-01}}</ref>

Most parties elect their leaders in [[Instant-runoff voting|instant-runoff elections]] to ensure that the winner receives more than 50% of the votes. Normally the party leader stands as a candidate to be an MP during an election. This happens at [[leadership convention]]s. Canada's parliamentary system empowers political parties and their party leaders. Where one party gets a majority of the seats in the House of Commons, that party is said to have a "majority government." Through party discipline, the party leader, who is elected in only one riding, exercises a great deal of control over the cabinet and the parliament.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Canada |first=Elections |date=2023-01-18 |title=FAQs on Leadership Contests |url=https://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=med&document=lea_faq&lang=e&cid=e |access-date=2023-01-21 |website=www.elections.ca}}</ref>

Historically, the [[Prime Minister of Canada|prime minister]] and senators are selected by the [[Governor General of Canada|Governor General]] as a representative of the King, though in modern practice the monarch's duties are ceremonial. Consequently, the prime minister, while technically selected by the Governor General, is for all practical purposes selected by the party with the majority of seats. That is, the party that gets the most seats normally forms the government, with that party's leader becoming prime minister. The prime minister is not directly elected by the general population, although the prime minister is almost always directly elected as an MP within his or her constituency.

Often the most popular party in an election takes a majority of the seats, even if it did not receive a majority of the vote. However, as there are usually three or more political parties represented in parliament, often no party takes a majority of the seats. A [[minority government]] occurs when the party that holds the most seats in the House of Commons holds fewer seats than the opposition parties combined. Where no party is given a majority, the defeated Ministry may choose to stay in office until defeated on a vote of confidence in the House, or it may resign. If it resigns, the Governor General will ask the leader of the opposition party most likely to enjoy the confidence of the House to form a government;<ref>https://www.ourcommons.ca/procedure/procedure-and-practice-3/ch_01_2-e.html</ref> however, for the government to survive and to pass laws, the leader chosen must have the support of the majority of the House, meaning they need the support of the elected members of at least one other party. This can be done on a case-by-case basis, through a coalition government (which has only occurred once at the federal level, the [[10th Canadian Ministry|Unionist government]] formed during World War I) or through a [[confidence-and-supply agreement]] (such as the one the Liberals and the NDP signed in 2022).