6.1.1 Federal Elections

Voters choose the people who will speak for them in the House of Commons. Those elected people are called members of Parliament, or MPs for short. At every election you may keep the same MPs or pick different ones. It is your decision each time. Once elected, an MP takes a seat in the House of Commons. That MP speaks for the people who live in their own area, and also for Canadians everywhere.

A law passed by Parliament fixes the date of federal elections. The date falls on the third Monday in October, four years after the last general election. That fixed date is not always the one used, however. The Prime Minister may go to the Governor General and ask for an election earlier than planned. So voters can be called to the polls before the four years have run out.

The country is divided into electoral districts. Two other names for the same thing are ridings and constituencies. A district is simply an area of land with borders drawn on a map. In 2012 there were 308 of them. Voters in each district elect one MP, and only one. That MP then sits in the House of Commons. There the MP speaks for the local people and for the whole country.

People who want a seat put their names forward. They are known as candidates. To run in a federal election you must hold Canadian citizenship and be 18 years old or older. One district can have several candidates on the ballot paper. Voters look at both the person standing and the political party behind that person. Counting is simple: whoever collects the highest number of votes in that district wins and becomes its MP.