Transcript Canada’s Election System

CANADA’S ELECTION
SYSTEM
First Past the Post System
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Currently used in provincial and federal elections
Country is divided into ridings of about 100,000
Political parties choose candidates to represent the
party in each riding
Citizens vote for the party by voting for the candidate in
their riding
Candidate with the most seats in each riding wins a seat
in government
Political Party with the most winning candidates
(therefore the most seats) wins the election and forms
government
Popular Vote
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Popular Vote means the total % of votes by each
party is calculated
The Canadian system of FPTP does not calculate the
popular vote
Proportional Representation System
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A system used by many countries and believed by
many people that Canada should adopt
Take all votes for each party as well as the total
number of votes across the country
Winning party is the one with the highest % of the
popular vote
Seats in government distributed to each party
based on the % of popular vote
Election
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The process of voting to choose government
representatives
Responsible Government
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A democratic system of government in which citizens
vote for representatives
These representatives make decisions on behalf of
the citizens
Representation by Population
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The principle that representation should be based
proportionally on population
Riding or Constituency
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An area that has its own member of parliament
By-election
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An election held for a vacant seat or a group of
vacant seats, rather than all seats in a general
election
Occurs when an elected representative retires, dies,
or chooses to leave office before a general election