Chapter 2Parliaments and Ministries

Majority Supporting the Government

Our parliamentary system requires that governments must be supported by the majority of Members in the House of Commons. Thus, a majority government results from a general election where one party (or a coalition of parties) wins the majority of seats in the House of Commons. A minority government usually occurs when the party which wins the most seats in a general election nonetheless does not hold the majority of seats in the House of Commons.¹ Canada has never been governed by a true coalition of parties.² Within each Parliament, party standings can and do fluctuate because of deaths, resignations, by-elections, Members who cross the floor or become independent, or other changes in the status of individual Members. As a result, the government’s ability to retain the support of the majority of Members can be increased or diminished.

All questions arising in the House are decided by a majority vote of those Members present,³ including the rules by which the House governs its own proceedings. The government’s ability to command the support of a majority of the House allows it to exercise control over the management of the business of the House and, by extension, of its committees. The government’s powers in this regard are in theory counterbalanced by its responsibility to the House to account for its actions.

The government’s role in the management of House business is established in several Standing Orders, which refer either to the government or a Minister as the initiator of certain types of proceedings.⁴ Likewise, there are many Standing Orders that recognize the House’s role in holding the government to account for its actions.⁵ Parliamentary procedure must balance the government’s power to manage the business of the House against the opposition’s responsibility to hold the government accountable. The crucial test of the government’s power comes in votes of confidence, for, in Canada’s parliamentary democracy, a government must enjoy the confidence of the House.

1.: The number of Members elected to sit in the Commons does not necessarily reflect the proportion of votes a party has received, as has been clearly demonstrated in numerous general elections. For example, in 1984, the Progressive Conservative Party received 50% of the votes cast but won 75% of the seats in the House (Robert MacGregor Dawson, Dawson’s The Government of Canada, 6th ed., ed. Norman Ward (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1987), p. 85). In 2015, the Liberal Party received 39.5% of the votes cast but won 54.4% of the seats in the Commons.
2.: Some academics have labelled the first Ministry a coalition. In the years leading to Confederation, Sir John Alexander Macdonald helped form the “Great Coalition” of 1864, which united Upper Canada’s Reformers with the Lower Canadian “Parti Bleu”. This led to the formation of the Liberal-Conservative Party (forerunner of today’s Conservative Party). Macdonald’s first Cabinet consisted of an almost equal number of Liberals and Conservatives. See Library and Archives Canada, “People: Sir John A. Macdonald”, Canadian Confederation, May 2, 2005, http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/confederation/023001-4000.46-e.html/; and John R. English, “Coalition Government”, The Canadian Encyclopedia, September 18, 2015, http://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/coalition-government/. The second instance, often cited as a coalition government, occurred in May 1917, during the final days of the Twelfth Parliament, when Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Laird Borden attempted to persuade Liberal Opposition leader Sir Wilfrid Laurier to create a coalition government to legislate conscription and to form a united wartime front. Mr. Laurier refused, and on October 12, 1917, Mr. Borden formed a Ministry known as the Union government, which brought together 12 Conservatives, 9 Liberals and Independents and 1 Member to represent “Labour” interests, all of whom supported conscription. Prime Minister Borden then called an election, running as the leader of the “Unionist Party” and defeated Laurier’s Liberals in a landslide victory. See Robert Craig Brown, Robert Laird Borden: A Biography, vol. 2 (Toronto: Macmillan, 1980), pp. 84–90, 101–10, 123–5. In November 2008, the Official Opposition gave notice of a non-confidence motion. All signs pointed to the motion receiving the support of the majority of the House. Moreover, a coalition agreement between the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party was struck and had the support of the Bloc Québécois. This coalition would have replaced the government if it had been defeated. However, the motion was never moved, and Parliament was prorogued by the Governor General until January 2009 (Journals, December 4, 2008, p. 101). The coalition was abandoned when Parliament reconvened.
3.: Constitution Act, 1867 (UK), 30 & 31 Vict, c 3, s 49, reprinted in RSC 1985, Appendix II, No 5 [Constitution Act, 1867]. A simple majority of the Members present and voting is enough to adopt or defeat a question. For further information, see Chapter 12, “The Process of Debate”.
4.: For example, the bulk of House time is allocated to government business, which is called in such sequence as the government determines (Standing Orders 30 and 40(2)). Furthermore, to name but a few examples, it is the government that requests a recall of the House when it stands adjourned (Standing Order 28(3) and (4)); that moves the extension of sitting hours in June (Standing Order 27(1)); that causes a special Order Paper to be issued (Standing Order 55(1)); that moves time allocation (Standing Order 78) and closure (Standing Order 57); that gives notice of and designates Orders of the Day for the consideration of ways and means motions (Standing Order 83(1) and (2)); and that initiates debate on the Standing Orders at the beginning of each Parliament (Standing Order 51(1)).
5.: Examples may be found in the rules governing supply (Standing Order 81(3), (4)(a) and (b)); questions (Standing Orders 37, 38 and 39); petitions (Standing Order 36); and the tabling of documents (Standing Order 32).

For questions about parliamentary procedure, contact the Table Research Branch

613-996-3611

trbdrb@parl.gc.ca