It’s not that simple. The way a parliamentary system works is that you only require a plurality of seats in the House to govern, not an outright majority. However, because the government proposes legislation (because our Prime Minister sits in the House of Commons) certain matters are put to the House as matters of confidence in the government. For example, budgets and “mini-budgets”. As well as anything the government deems a confidence motion.
In our current situation, 155 seats would constitute a majority in parliament. It is very difficult for a majority government to lose the confidence of the House because they control the majority of seats. The reason the opposition in the House is called “Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition” is that it is their job to ensure the government is acting in the people’s best interest.
In a minority government situation, when the House loses confidence in the government the Prime Minister must meet with the Governor General. The Prime Minister advises the GG that he has lost the confidence of the House and he suggests one of two options to her. She can either call an election, or propose that a coalition of the opposition parties (constituting a plurality of the House) be given the chance to form a government. It is her perogative which option she chooses.
It is important to note that in the current situation, the only way for the opposition to form a plurality (and in this case a slim majority) is for all 3 opposition parties to be present in the coalition, any 2 of them together could not form a government, as they would not be able to pass any confidence motions and the new PM would be required to go to the GG and ask for an election.
In this case, because of the public posturing by the opposition, the PM met with the Governor General and asked her to “porogue” parliament. Which basically means all legislation currently in process is null and void, and we get to start with a Speech from the Throne. It’s like hitting hte reset button on the legislature.
The Throne Speech sets the priorities of the government for that session of parliament and must also be voted on by the House. It is a confidence motion and failure of the government to pass the motion will result in the government losing the confidence of the House. Note this is the 2nd time that Harper has asked the GG to porogue parliament.
In the end it’s not as frightening as it seems. It’s life in a parliamentary system.
Also note that the government does not need a majority of parliament to pass any legislation (nor does the opposition) they only need a majority of the members present and voting on that day.
Hope this helps.
Or lose a confidence vote ala Joe Clarke.
Nice explanation BTW...much better than mine.