Elections in Canada

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Coat of arms of Canada

This review article describes the electoral system in Canada at the federal and provincial levels.

Basics

The Canadian Parliament consists of the monarch , the lower house (Engl. House of Commons , fr. Chambre des Communes ) with 338 seats elected members and the Senate (Engl. Senate , fr. Senate ) appointed 105 members.

The parliamentary seats are assigned according to the relative majority vote . So the candidate who has the most votes gets the seat, the absolute majority is irrelevant. Elections take place every four years unless the government is forced to resign after a vote of no confidence . In accordance with the traditions of the Westminster system , the heads of government used to be able to set the election date themselves within a certain time frame (usually five years). However, fixed election dates apply in individual provinces and, since 2006, at the federal level.

The non-partisan authority Elections Canada is responsible for holding elections at the federal level ; similar authorities exist at the provincial level. The allocation of constituencies is carried out every ten years based on the census results by independent commissions. This bases its recommendations on the size of the population as well as on social and economic ties.

General Elections

Although five parties are currently represented in parliament, two dominate political events: since the country was founded in 1867, the Conservative Party and Liberal Party have alternated in government.

Any Canadian citizen aged 18 or older has the right to vote. The only exceptions are the chairman of the electoral authority ( Chief Electoral Officer ) appointed by the House of Commons and his deputy ( Deputy Chief Electoral Officer ). The women's suffrage was introduced 1918th Prior to October 31, 2002, prison inmates serving a term of more than two years were excluded from voting, but on October 31, 2002 the Supreme Court overturned the provision for violating Section 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms violated.

By- elections can also be scheduled in individual constituencies between the ordinary general election if the seat is vacant. The Prime Minister can set the date himself, but the election must take place between the 11th and 180th day after the Chief Electoral Officer has been notified .

The length of campaigns can vary but must be a minimum of 36 days as required by the Canada Elections Act . However, a maximum duration is not prescribed. The general election must take place on a Monday (or on a Tuesday if Monday falls on an official holiday). Usually the Prime Minister schedules the election so that the campaign is as short as possible, as electoral law strictly limits the parties' spending. The elections of 1997, 2000 and 2004 all took place at the earliest possible date.

Elections in provinces and territories

The following table provides an overview of the last elections in the provinces and territories . The result of the victorious party is marked in bold and is also marked with the color field next to the election date (the latter correspond to the official party colors). In several cases, the provincial parties are not organizationally linked to the parent parties at the federal level and sometimes have different names.

None of the existing Conservative parties (which describe themselves as "progressive-conservative") are formally affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada . This tie was formally broken with the dissolution of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada . The newly formed federal party never asked for formal ties to the provincial parties. However, informal relationships exist in most provinces and membership lists are quite similar.

In British Columbia and Québec, the provincial Liberals are completely independent from the Liberal Party of Canada . Their political spectrum is partly different and in some cases their positions contradict those of the federal party. The other liberal provincial parties are also autonomous, but there are formal ties to the federal party.

In contrast, all provincial parties of the New Democratic Party are fully integrated into the federal party.

Province or territory Last choice           Total seats
conservative liberal NDP Green Other
Northwest Territories October 01, 2019   - - - - 19th 19th
Manitoba 09/10/2019   36 3 18th - - 57
Newfoundland and Labrador May 16, 2019   15th 20th 3 - 2 (Independent) 40
Prince Edward Island 04/23/2019   13 6th - 8th - 27
Alberta 04/16/2019   - - 24 - 63 ( UCP ) 87
Quebec October 01, 2018   - 32 - - 74 ( CAQ )
10 ( QS )
9 ( PQ )		 125
New Brunswick 09/25/2018   22nd 21st - 3 3 (PA) 49
Ontario 07.06.2018   76 7th 40 1 - 124
Nunavut 10/30/2017   - - - - 22nd 22nd
Nova Scotia 05/30/2017   17th 27 7th - - 51
British Columbia 05/09/2017   - 43 41 3 - 87
Yukon 07/11/2016   - 11 2 - 6 ( YP ) 19th
Saskatchewan 04/04/2016   - - 10 - 51 ( SKP ) 61

Note: There are no political parties in Nunavut or the Northwest Territories.

Referendums

The federal government can also organize nationwide referendums on important issues, but this happens very rarely. The last referendum was held at the federal level in 1992, it concerned constitutional amendments according to the Charlottetown Accord . Referendums have also taken place in seven out of ten provinces.

History of women's suffrage

The states introduced women's suffrage successively from 1916 onwards, and in some cases earlier than was the case at the federal level. Taillight was Quebec : The law, which gave also Indians and Indians the right to vote was introduced into Parliament only on 9 April 1949 and entered into force April 25, 1949.

In 1917, against the background of the war, the Wartime Elections Act granted certain groups of women the right to vote at the national level, the exact composition of which can be found in the literature: nurses who served in the war; Euro-American women who worked in the army or had close relatives there (father, husband or son) or whose fathers, men or sons were killed or wounded in the war; Women whose husbands, sons or fathers were killed or wounded in war; Another source also mentions the requirement that the women admitted be electorally equal to men at the state level.

On May 24, 1918, active national suffrage was extended to all women of British and French descent over the age of 21, with the same criteria for women and men. Indians were excluded.

In 1919 women were given the right to stand as a candidate. Other sources cite later dates and speak of a limited right to vote; but this is presumably based on the fact that it was not until 1929 that the Famous Five finally clarified that the right to stand for election in the constitution also applied to the Senate, not just to the House of Commons .

In 1920 the property restrictions were lifted.

In 1950 and 1951, amendments to the Indian Act and Canada Elections Act extended national active suffrage to Indian veterans and their wives, as well as Indians who normally lived outside the Reservations, if they waived the tax exemptions that the Indian Act granted them. In 1950 the Inuit had the right to vote, in 1951 all residents of the Northwest Territories . Ballot boxes for the Inuit were not erected in the Eastern Arctic until 1962.

It was not until August 1960 that the Act to Amend the Canada Elections Act extended the right to vote to all Canadians.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 437
  2. ↑ Benjamin Isakhan, Stephen Stockwell: The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy. Edinburgh University Press 2012, p. 342.
  3. ↑ a b Caroline Daley, Melanie Nolan (eds.): Suffrage and Beyond. International Feminist Perspectives. New York University Press New York 1994, pp. 349-350.
  4. ^ Yolande Cohen: Suffrage féminin et démocratie au Canada. In: Christine Fauré (ed.): Encyclopédie Politique et Historique des Femmes. Europe, Amérique du Nord. Presses Universitaires de France Paris, 1997, ISBN 2-13-048316-X , pp. 535-550, p. 542.
  5. ↑ June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 55.
  6. ↑ a b - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. Retrieved September 30, 2018 .
  7. ^ A b Yolande Cohen: Women's Suffrage and Democrac in Canada. In: Christine Fauré (ed.): Political and Historical Encyclopedia of Women , Routledge New York, London, 2003, pp. 305-314, p. 309.
  8. ^ A b c Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 61.
  9. ^ Yolande Cohen: Women's Suffrage and Democrac in Canada. In: Christine Fauré (ed.): Political and Historical Encyclopedia of Women , Routledge New York, London, 2003, pp. 305-314, p. 309.
  10. ↑ June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 53
  11. ^ A b Joan Sangster: One Hundred Years of Struggle. The History of Women and the Vote in Canada. UBC Press Vancouver and Toronto, 2018, p. 203
  12. ↑ United Nations Development Program: Human Development Report 2007/2008 . New York, 2007, ISBN 978-0-230-54704-9 , p. 343
  13. ^ Joan Sangster: One Hundred Years of Struggle. The History of Women and the Vote in Canada. UBC Press Vancouver and Toronto, 2018, pp. 232-233
  14. ^ Joan Sangster: One Hundred Years of Struggle. The History of Women and the Vote in Canada. UBC Press Vancouver and Toronto, 2018, p. 255.
  15. ^ Joan Sangster: One Hundred Years of Struggle. The History of Women and the Vote in Canada. UBC Press Vancouver and Toronto, 2018, p. 256.
  16. ^ "August 1960" - New Parline: the IPU's Open Data Platform (beta). In: data.ipu.org. Retrieved September 30, 2018 .
  17. ↑ "1. July 1960. “June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 53.