Canada

    • Capital: Ottawa

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  • Canada is made up of 10 Provinces:

    • Ontario

      • Capital: Toronto

      • Pop: 16,258,260

    • Québec

      • Capital: Québec City

      • Pop: 9,110,616

    • British Columbia

      • Capital: Vancouver

      • Pop: 5,697,536

    • Alberta

      • Capital: Edmonton

      • Pop: 5,029,346

    • Manitoba

      • Capital: Winnipeg

      • Pop: 1,509,702

    • Saskatchewan

      • Capital: Regina

      • Pop: 1,266,959

    • Nova Scotia

      • Capital: Halifax

      • Pop: 1,093,245

    • New Brunswick

      • Capital: Fredericton

      • Pop: 869,682

    • Newfoundland and Labrador

      • Capital: St. John’s

      • Pop: 549,911

    • Prince Edward Island

      • Capital: Charlottetown

      • Pop: 182,657

Canada’s Political System

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. For a party to gain a majority in parliament, it must attain 172 seats out of 343 seats. If the party who receives the most vote share gets less than 172 seats, it can either form a coalition with another party or rule in a “hung parliament” as a minority rule.

The Prime Minister is not directly elected. The parties hold “membership elections” to choose their party leader. That leader will become Prime Minister when his or her party win the most seats in the federal elections.

Each of Canada’s 10 Provinces elect “premiers” of the province in the provincial elections.

The 45th House of Commons shows the Liberal Party currently holding 169 seats, 3 seats from a majority government. The Conservative Party (143), Bloc Quebecois (23), National Democratic Party (7), and Green Party (1) makes up the rest of the House of Commons.

Canadian Political System

Sovereign Body: Canadian Parliament

Head of State: King Charles III

Head of Government: Mark Carney, Prime Minister (Liberal) since 14 March 2025

Governor General: Mary Simon since 26 July 2021

Election Occurrence: Every Four Years, but can be called earlier if:

  • the Governor General accepts the Prime Minister’s advice to dissolve Parliament, or

  • if the Governor General accepts the resignation of the Prime Minister after the Government has been defeated on a motion of confidence in the House and the Governor General does not ask the leader of another party to become Prime Minister and form a government.

Legislative Bodies:

  • Senate: 105 Seats appointed by the Governor General

  • House of Commons: 343 seats elected by Canadian citizens

House of Commons:

  • Based on geographical divisions called “electoral ridings.” One Member of Parliament is assigned to each 343 electoral ridings.

Voting System

  • First-Past-The-Post: In every riding, the candidate with the plurality of votes wins a seat in the House of Commons. The winning candidate need not win 50% of the vote to win the seat.

Source: https://electionsanddemocracy.ca/parliament/canadas-political-system

Major Political Parties

  • The Liberals are a centrist political party founded in 1867. It’s current leader and the Prime Minister of Canada is Mark Carney. It currently holds a majority of seats in the House of Commons following the 2025 election. The Liberals have formed 26 governments since Canada became a federation in 1867.

  • The Liberals are considered a “big tent” party operating on the center-left or center of the Canadian political spectrum, in other words, a fiscally responsible and socially progressive platform. The Liberals reflect a moderate, technocratic, and pragmatic management of the economy, ranging from higher social welfare spending to tax cuts for the lower class. While Liberals once were skeptical of small government and low taxes, the modern party has shifted more to the center, promoting the free market while staunchly opposing conservative attempts to cut funding for universal health care and other government programs.

  • Similar to other center-left parties in the Western world, Liberals do exceptionally well in the inner cities, gaining a majority of its seats in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. Liberals also gain a significant amount of its seats in Newfoundland and New Brunswick.

    The Liberals do poorly in western provinces such as Saskatchewan and Alberta as well as many Ontario suburbs north of Toronto.

Mark Carney

Prime Minister since 14 March 2025

Leader of the Liberal party since 9 March 2025

Member of Parliament of Nepean, Ontario since 25 April 2025.

Major Political Parties

Pierre Poilievre

Leader of the Opposition since 18 August 2025

Leader of the Conservatives since 10 September 2022

Member of Parliament of Battle River—Crowfoot

  • The Conservatives are a center-right political party founded in 2003 after a merger between the Progressive Conservative Party and the Canadian Alliance. It currently holds the second most seats in the House of Commons following the 2025 election and is official opposition party in Parliament. The Conservatives held a majority under Stephen Harper from 2006 until 2015. Since 2015, the Conservatives have not held a majority in Parliament.

  • The Conservatives operate on the center-right to right-wing of the Canadian political spectrum. The Conservatives believe in fiscal conservatism: lower taxes, reduced spending, and opposition to a carbon tax. Conservatives would reduce net immigration, increase energy production, and build closer ties with CANZUK (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and UK).

  • The Conservatives win large majorities in the western rural provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The Conservatives also do well in the Northern Ontario suburbs, Vancouver suburbs in BC, and pockets in Quebec, Newfoundland and New Brunswick.

Major Political Parties

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