In a nutshell from Wikipedia:
The Parliament of Canada is composed of three parts: the Monarch, the Senate, and the House of Commons. The House of Commons is dominant, with the Senate rarely opposing its will. The Senate reviews legislation from a less partisan standpoint and may initiate certain bills. The Monarch or her representative, normally the Governor General, provides royal assent to make bills into law.
The Governor General, on behalf of the Monarch, summons and appoints the 105 senators on the advice of the Prime Minister. The 338 members of the House of Commons (Members of Parliament or MPs), each representing an electoral district, called a riding, are elected by Canadian voters residing in the riding. The Governor General also summons and calls together the House of Commons, on behalf of the Monarch, while either the Monarch or Governor General can prorogue or dissolve Parliament in order to either end a parliamentary session or call a general election.
The Prime Minister is the head of whichever party elects the most representatives to the House of Commons. If no single party elects 169 or more MP’s, the various parties can agree to form a coalition and govern together. Canadians like coalitions because the interests of more Canadians are served when our MP’s have to temper their tendencies to create bad legislation. Castreau currently has a minority government formed with the NDP.
Current seats held by party:
Liberal - 159
Conservative - 119
Bloc Québecois - 32
New Democratic Party - 25
Green - 2
Other - 1
Any combination of alliances may assemble to form the government. So the Conservatives could have formed a government with the agreement of the Bloc and the NDP. I don’t think a three-way alliance has ever happened though. Minority governments don’t usually last the full term (4 years) because the inner squabblings start and the coalition fails when someone doesn’t get their way. Some coalitions have been abbreviated because the party with the most seats believed they could get a clear majority by calling an election at a time when Canadians seemed happy with them.
Looks like it misses the fact that the Governor-General is appointed by the PM. And usually a crony of the PM.
Thank you for the details. What is your boots on the groun assessment of what will like happen? So the GG is the only one who can give the PM the boot?