I’m afraid I still don’t know this. But there was a federal election a few day ago in Canada. Conservatives wont the minority. My first question is what does that mean? Conservatives got the most votes then why is it still considered to be in the minority category with other parties? How can it become a majority (if there is). After this election, what can the Coservatives do which other parties cannot do. So Stephen Harper is going to be the leader again too?
Sorry to ask too many questions but I looked at wikipedia and still didn’t understand clearly.
When a party wins a minority, it means that they have won the most seats of all the parties. BUT if the other opposition parties team up together they can force the conservatives to resign (by voting against them). Together, the opposition has more seats/votes than the conservatives in Parliament. If the conservatives won a majority, the opposition can not force the conservatives to resign (because then the conservatives would have more seats than the opposition combined).
While the conservatives got the most votes, they are still considered a minority because they still don’t have enough seats. They have gained a few more in this election, but they need more. 155 seats are necessary to form a majority.
After the election. the conservatives get to form the government, which the other parties cannot do, because they have received the most seats. Conservative Members of Parliament may become ministers, whereas opposition MPs cannot.
April 30th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
Well in Canada, there is 308 ridings. Each of these ridings has a representative that gets a seat in the House of Commons. These representatives are called MPs. So when people voted the other day, they were actually voting for the MP in their riding (area), they weren’t voting for the actual leader who would become prime minister (unless they happened to live in the riding where that person was running). So the whole reason why Stephen Harper called an election was because our government was a Conservative minority, and he thought that now was the best time for Conservatives to become a majority government. A minority government is when the party that has the most seats elected has less than 155 elected. And this election, Conservatives won 143 seats. If they had of won 155 or more seats, then our government would be a Conservative majority right now. Conservatives still have the most seats, so they are the party in power. The difference between a minority government and a majoirity government is that if the Conservatives were in a majority government, then they would have more power to make decisions, but since they are a minority government, they have to make a lot of decisions with the opposition (the party with the second largest amount of seats, which happens to be the liberals). As for what can Conservatives do that the other parties can’t..i’m not sure if you mean what do they have the power to do, or what do they have to offer that the other parties don’t. Because basically they are the party in power, so they make the decisions for Canada, and i’m actually not sure how they have so much support. In my opinion, it’s from the people who have always voted Conservative.
I hope i cleared up some stuff for you :]
References :
i pay attention in civics class :]
April 30th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
When a party wins a minority, it means that they have won the most seats of all the parties. BUT if the other opposition parties team up together they can force the conservatives to resign (by voting against them). Together, the opposition has more seats/votes than the conservatives in Parliament. If the conservatives won a majority, the opposition can not force the conservatives to resign (because then the conservatives would have more seats than the opposition combined).
While the conservatives got the most votes, they are still considered a minority because they still don’t have enough seats. They have gained a few more in this election, but they need more. 155 seats are necessary to form a majority.
After the election. the conservatives get to form the government, which the other parties cannot do, because they have received the most seats. Conservative Members of Parliament may become ministers, whereas opposition MPs cannot.
References :