Blog Post

Constitutional Rights: Election night in Canada

October 23, 2015 | by Jonathan Stahl

(credit: Can Pac Swire)
(credit: Can Pac Swire)

 

Even as the American presidential election was still more than a year away, Canadians headed to the polls for federal elections on Monday night. The Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, won a majority of the seats in Parliament, and ousted the Conservative Party’s Stephen Harper from the office of prime minister after a nearly 10-year reign. Trudeau follows his father, Pierre Trudeau, who was prime minister in the 1970s and 1980s, and who has been called the “father of modern Canada.”

 

The Canadian electoral process provides a useful starting point for comparing the U.S. and Canadian constitutions. (It is important to note that Canada does not have a U.S.-style “constitution”; there is no single, unified document. Instead, the Canadian constitution is an amalgamation of several documents, including the Constitution Acts of 1867 and 1982, the latter of which contains the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.)

 

Like the Congress of the United States, Canada’s Parliament has two chambers. The House of Commons, the “lower” house, is much like the U.S. House of Representatives—it is an elected body comprised of Members of Parliament (MPs), who are elected from geographical districts across the provinces. Seats in the House of Commons are distributed in proportion to the population of each province, and the number of total seats can change from election to election to account for population changes.

 

As in the House, elections are “first-past-the-post,” meaning that a candidate wins the district if he or she obtains the largest share of the vote, even if that share is not a majority. Justin Trudeau has expressed his disdain for this system on the campaign trail, and has promised that, as prime minister, he will put together a committee to study and propose alternatives to first-past-the-post voting.

 

Parliament’s “upper” house is called the Senate, but it is much different than the chamber of Congress that shares its name. There are 105 Senators, each of whom was appointed by a prime minister for a term that lasts until his or her 75th birthday or impeachment. The seats in the Senate are divided among the provinces, but are apportioned in accordance with how long a province has been part of Canada rather than by population size.

 

While the Senate and House of Commons must both pass a bill in order for it to be sent to the Prime Minister—just as the House and Senate must agree on a bill before the President sees it—in practice, the Senate acts as a rubber stamp, approving most bills if already approved by the House of Commons.

 

Curiously, the Queen of England is still the ultimate sovereign over Canada. While she does not exercise actual political power, she remains the head of state—a product of Canada’s history as a British territory, which never completely severed ties with the monarchy.

 

When Canadians refer to “federal elections,” they are talking about elections to the House of Commons. Candidates for prime minister are chosen through intra-party nominating contests, but unlike the U.S. system, they are also candidates for their respective seats in Parliament. Should a nominee’s party win federal elections, the nominee becomes prime minister, but if his or her party loses, the nominee may still serve as MP for their district.

 

How a nominee’s party “wins” the Canadian federal election is also a process alien to the U.S. system. One can become prime minister if one’s party wins a clear majority of the 338 seats in the House of Commons, as Trudeau and the Liberals did this week, or if one’s party wins a plurality of seats. Should a party fall short of winning an outright majority, it can form a coalition with other parties to ensure that its leader will obtain the required 170 votes to become prime minister. While always a possibility, this kind of coalition compromise has only occurred once in Canadian history.

 

The frequency of Canadian federal elections also highlights a contrast between the Canadian and American systems. In Canada, elections can be triggered through a number of mechanisms. The prime minister has the power to call a federal election at any point during his or her tenure. Parliament itself can hold a “vote of no confidence,” which also triggers an election.

 

However, the Canadian constitution mandates that elections are to be held at least once every five years. In 2007, Parliament passed a law establishing fixed-date elections, requiring them to be held on the third Monday in October of the fourth calendar year after the last contest. The election this week was Canada’s first under this statute.

Taking a broader view, the U.S. and Canadian constitutions share similar guarantees for a number of political and civil rights, but some rights included in the U.S. Constitution are missing from its Canadian counterpart.

 

Canada’s constitution does not protect a right to keep and bear arms, birthright citizenship, or some Sixth Amendment rights, including the right to confront witnesses at a criminal trial.

 

Other differences provide insight into the historical development of these North American neighbors. For example, the Canadian constitution does not explicitly ban slavery as the U.S. 13th Amendment does. Canada was under the direct rule of Britain when the Constitution Act was passed by the British Parliament in 1867; slavery was already banned throughout the British Empire in 1833.

 

British influence is also apparent in Canada’s lack of a prohibition on religious establishment. While Canada’s constitution does protect religious free expression, it cannot ban state religious establishment because of the British monarch’s formal role in the Canadian system. Since the monarch is the head of the Church of England, no clause mandating the separation of church and state constrains the Canadian government.

 

For Americans, the biggest difference between the U.S. and Canadian political systems may be the length of the country’s respective federal campaigns. Monday marked the end of Canada’s 78-day contest, which was one of the longest in national history. In contrast, Ted Cruz, the first candidate to formally enter the 2016 presidential contest, announced his candidacy and started campaigning a full 595 days before Election Day 2016.

 

Jonathan Stahl is an intern at the National Constitution Center. He is also a senior at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in politics, philosophy and economics.


 
More from the National Constitution Center
Constitution 101

Explore our new 15-unit core curriculum with educational videos, primary texts, and more.

Media Library

Search and browse videos, podcasts, and blog posts on constitutional topics.

Founders’ Library

Discover primary texts and historical documents that span American history and have shaped the American constitutional tradition.

Constitution Daily Blog