Elections, voting, and who forms the government

Joy is thirty-seven. She came from the Philippines, and she works as a personal support worker in Scarborough. One day, a card comes in the mail for her husband, who is a citizen. It is his voter information card. Joy is a permanent resident, so no card comes for her yet. I'm Vinnie. Remember, this is a free, independent course. It is not a government course.

So here is the question. Who can vote, how do you vote, and who forms the government after an election?

The official study guide, Discover Canada, has a chapter called Federal Elections. Federal elections are held on the third Monday in October, every four years. The Prime Minister can ask the Governor General to call one earlier. Canada is divided into ridings. A riding is an area that elects one member of Parliament. The guide says there are three hundred eight ridings. Today there are three hundred forty-three.

In each riding, the candidate with the most votes wins. So voters in each local riding elect their member of Parliament. To vote in a federal election, you must be a Canadian citizen, at least eighteen on voting day, and on the voters' list. Elections Canada, a neutral agency of Parliament, keeps the list. It is called the National Register of Electors.

Elections Canada mails a voter information card to people on the list. You can be added to the list at any time, even on election day. To vote, take your card and your identification to your polling station. Or vote early, at an advance poll. Behind the screen, mark an X in the circle beside the candidate you choose. Then fold your ballot, the paper you vote on.

The official tears off the ballot number, and you put your ballot in the box. Your vote is secret. This is called the secret ballot. No one may watch you vote. And no one, not your family, your boss or your union, can make you tell them how you voted.

After the election, the Governor General invites the leader of the party with the most seats to form the government. That leader becomes Prime Minister. With at least half the seats, it is a majority government. With less than half, it is a minority government. The largest party not in power is the Official Opposition.

The Cabinet is the Prime Minister and the Cabinet ministers. Cabinet prepares the budget and proposes most new laws. If the government loses a vote on something like the budget, that usually leads to an election. Beside the federal government, there are provincial or territorial governments, and municipal governments. A city or town council is led by a mayor or reeve, and it passes rules called by-laws. First Nations have band chiefs and councillors.

Let's make it stick. To vote, you need three things: citizen, eighteen, list. Think of the words Canadians Elect Leaders. C for citizen, E for eighteen, and L for the list.

Let's change one fact. What if Joy becomes a citizen before the next election? Then she can be added to the voters' list, and she can vote. Today, as a permanent resident, she cannot vote in a federal election.

The mistake people make is thinking the whole country votes for the Prime Minister. It does not. You vote for one member of Parliament in your riding. The leader of the party with the most seats becomes Prime Minister.

Here's the one thing to remember. Your riding elects one member of Parliament, and the leader of the party with the most seats forms the government.

This week, read the Federal Elections chapter in Discover Canada, and say the voting steps out loud. Then name the three levels of government: federal, provincial and municipal. Next time, the justice system: courts, police and your rights.