Governance in Canada

Canadian Federal Elections

Watch and Write: What are Federal Elections?

• While watching the video write down one thing about Federal Elections that you don’t understand, for example,“I don’t understand how often elections are called.”
• Be ready to discuss what you wrote down with your partner.

Discussion: Share What You Observed

Share with your partner something you didn’t understand about the election process.

OR

If you don’t have any questions then share something you think would help a political party win an election.

1 Insight

1 Question

The Election Process

Ch. 9, p.314

Winning the Election: First Past the Post

• The country is broken up into electoral areas called ridings.
• An election race is held in each riding.
• The candidate with the most votes in each race becomes the member of parliament (MP) for that riding, winning their party a seat in the house of commons.
• Generally the party with the most seats forms the government and puts their party leader into office as Prime Minister.

Note that in first past the post it doesn’t matter what percentage of the overall votes a party gets, just how many seats a party wins, as a result many votes end up having no impact.

Forming Government

• A party needs to win 170 of the 338 seats in parliament to form a Majority Government.
• If no party wins a majority of the seats then the party with the most will be asked to form a Minority Government by making agreements with other parties to govern as part of a coalition of MPs.
• If that party fails to form a government then the Governor General may call upon the party with the next highest number of seats to attempt to form a government, and failing that, a new election will be called.

A Majority Government will be able to pass bills and achieve their goals without help from other parties.

A Minority Government will need the help of other parties to achieve their goals.

Winning Votes: Political Debates

• How does a political party go about winning an election? There is a period of campaigning before voting opens where the parties will try to convince voters to support them.
• Some key campaigning strategies include making phone calls (canvassing), paying for ads, staging rallies, and participating in debates.
• During every election cycle there is a leader’s debate where each leader tries to prove why their party is the best and why they are capable of being Prime Minister.
• This is often considered to be a pivotal moment in the election where many votes can be won or lost.

Video: Leader’s Debate 2021

Debate Script Assignment

• Working in pairs, continue from the political party you chose for your political party focus (if you and your partner chose different ones then pick one of the two).
• Based on that party, pick one argument you think they would make in a debate. This could come in one of two forms:
• Presenting, supporting, or defending one of their own policy goals.
• Attacking a policy goal of another party, often the party of the Prime Minister.
• On a sheet of paper write down your argument in 3 sentences.
• Underneath brainstorm 2 points an opponent might make to undermine your claim.
• Then brainstorm 2 points you would make to support your claim.

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Debate Script Assignment Expectations

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• Includes my name and my partners name at the top of the sheet.
• Includes the political party we chose marked clearly.
• Includes an argument this party would make summed up in 3 full sentences.
• Includes 2 counter points (point form is ok) an opponent would use to undermine our argument.
• Includes 2 responses to those points.

Debate Script Example

Party: NDP

Argument: As party leader of the NDP I believe that climate change is the most important issue facing Canada. The current Prime Minister has not done enough to address this issue. If elected I would make sure it was our number one priority.

Counterpoints:

-Canada has to think about economy before we spend money on solving climate change.

-Canada has more pressing issues, like public health to deal with.

Supporting Statements:

-Canada can increase taxes on fossil fuel emitters to pay for the costs of transitioning to clean energy.

-We can address both points, but if we don’t address climate change everyone’s health will be affected in the long run.

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