The 36-day federal election was officially launched yesterday, with final votes set to be tallied when the polls close on the evening of April 28th. But before we get into the stakes, the candidates and the policy positions of each party, we thought it might be helpful to define a couple of election terms and procedures that confuse many of us.
Why are we having an election now?
In the United States, elections happen like clockwork. We know exactly when Americans head to the polls. But in Canada – and in all countries that use the British Westminster-style system of government – it’s not quite so simple.
Yes, in theory, we do have fixed election dates in Canada. We were supposed to head to the polls this coming fall. But, as you know from Social Studies class, fixed election dates alone don’t dictate the timing of elections in our country.
After the last two elections in 2019 and 2021, the governing federal Liberal Party won the most seats, but not enough to form a majority government. While the Liberals were able to retain power as a minority government (namely the NDP, who agreed to back the government in all-important confidence votes in exchange for the advancement of policies like dental care), they were constantly at the mercy of the opposition. Or, put another way, if the opposition parties collectively had wanted an election, they had the votes to bring down the government at any point, forcing Canada to the polls earlier than the fixed election date.
Make sense? Good! Because this isn’t the only way to force an early election in Canada.
Both the 2021 election and this election were called, essentially, by the prime minister. After all, our constitution allows the leader of the governing party, in theory, to pull the plug on their own government at any time.
Why would a leader bring down their own government? Timing!
A governing party might be high in the polls, have a sense of momentum, or believe circumstances might change for the worse, meaning that right now is the best chance of victory. And while that is self-serving, remember that no one goes into politics to lose; everyone wants to win because, rightly or wrongly, they believe they’re best positioned to advance the best set of policies to help society.
In the case of this election, of course, Prime Minister Mark Carney and the governing Liberal Party of Canada believed (rightly) that opposition parties were plotting to bring down the government as soon as prorogation ended. By calling an election before the opposition parties could have a chance to vote non-confidence in the government, Carney and the Liberals hope they control the narrative going into the election.
Why did the Governor General have a say in the timing of this election?
Okay, so here’s the thing: a prime minister alone can’t call an election.
Why?
Well, as you’ll recall, Canada’s head of state isn’t the prime minister; it’s the King. And the King, in Canada, is represented by the Governor General, a position currently held by Her Excellency, Mary Simon.
As such, when Prime Minister Mark Carney decided he wanted to call an early election, what he really decided was that he would advise our Governor General that an election should be called. In theory, once Prime Minister Carney provided an “instrument of advice”, in person, to Governor General Mary Simon, the decision of whether or not to call an election was in her hands.
In theory.
After all, as you know, the role of the King – and, by way, the governor general – in our system of governance is mostly ceremonial. The King and his representatives, both federally and provincially (lieutenant governors), almost always act on the advice of the Canadian heads of government – the prime minister federally and the premiers provincially.
Almost always.
While the governor general and lieutenant governor roles in our system are largely ceremonial, they’re not completely ceremonial – they do have real power that, in exceptional circumstances, can be used to deny the request (advice) of our heads of government, as has happened from time to time, federally and provincially.
But Prime Minister Mark Carney’s request for an election was valid and with precedent, meaning that Governor General Mary Simon granted his wish and dissolved Parliament.
Dissolved?
Well, not literally, of course, but, yes, in Canada, when an election is called it’s known as the dissolution of Parliament, meaning that with an election called, all of the seats in Parliament are vacated and current MPs revert to being members of the public who, if they run for re-election, are mere candidates.
See? Parliament dissolved.
And with the Governor General (again, acting in the name of King Charles) executing the “proclamations under the Great Seal of Canada”, Her Excellency declared the election writs be issued.
The writs?
Yes, the writs!
This is the formal written order the governor general provides to the returning officers in each of our 343 electoral ridings ordering that they hold an election. You can learn more here, but what you really need to know is that when people say the ‘writs have been issued’, or we’re ‘dropping the writ’, they’re just using old school, Westminster slang to declare an election has been called.
Do we have a government right now?
We do! It’s called a caretaker government which is based on, you guessed it, the caretaker convention.
Just like the past few months while Parliament was prorogued, Prime Minister Carney and his cabinet retain their full authority to oversee the executive branch of government. This means, in essence, they have the ability make decisions that our constitution legally grants them the authority to make.
With Canada experiencing a moment of crisis in the face of US President Trump’s tariff and annexation threats, this is especially important to understand: during an election, the affairs of the nation can still be largely handled by our incumbent government.
Now, the caretaker part of the caretaker convention does dictate that during an election the executive shouldn’t act as if it’s just business as usual. Caretaker governments “should restrict itself – in matters of policy, expenditure and appointments – to activity that is:
(a) routine, or
(b) non-controversial, or
(c) urgent and in the public interest, or
(d) reversible by a new government without undue cost or disruption, or
(e) agreed to by opposition parties (in those cases where consultation is appropriate).”
Is that wording vague? Yes, absolutely. And that’s intentional.
If Canada were to face a true, existential emergency during this 36-day election campaign, our previously elected leaders are still the legal, valid, democratically-selected decision makers empowered under our constitution to govern the nation and respond to the crisis.
Now, in reality, decisions will be limited to areas of broad-based public interest, but if you’re interested in understanding all the nuance of the caretaker convention at this important juncture, we recommend this article (behind a paywall), or this one (even if outdated).
Onwards!
Now that you better understand these confusing terms and procedures, hopefully you’re better able to make sense of what you hear on the news, or in conversations with friends. After all, this might be the most important election of our lifetimes – we can’t get confused by misinformation, well-intended or nefarious.