Yes Canada does have a parliament, so the elected officials do determine the prime minister.
In fact, our federal election was yesterday, in which Stephen Harper failed to elect a majority government, which is conceivably why he called this election in the first place. The Conservatives had about 145 seats, Liberals 75, Bloc Quebecois (only in quebec!) 50, ndp 40, green party 0.
The Green Party has really failed over the years here... they've only had one seat in parliament, when a Member of Parliament (MP) was elected as a Liberal, then he moved to the Green Party. He was not re-elected.
The Bloc Quebecois almost did better than the Liberals, which I find amazing, since they're only in Quebec. They are strong believers of cutting the cord between Quebec and the rest of Canada. They are pretty much the only province in which the majority of the population speaks french. I say, if Quebec wants to cut the cord, pay back ALL of the money the federal government has provided you with...
The Liberals really got disappointed this year, losing about 20 seats in parliament and not being able to stop Stephen Harper. They were shut out of British Columbia, clearly they didn't accept Dion's views, as his leadership was determined worse than Jack Layton's. His Green Shift clearly didn't go over well with Canadian voters.
The Conservatives are happy they got re-elected, they didn't get the majority government in Canada. They cannot create an agenda without the approval of other parties now. The many attack ads on Dion that I have seen are sickening me... they have had to spend lots of taxpayer money just for those radio and TV ads. Overall, they almost swept British Columbia with about 75% of the seats from BC. Stephen Harper is still Prime Minister of Canada.
The NDP (New Democratic Party) was really happy with this election. They gained a few seats. They almost broke the record of the amount of seats elected for the NDP, and Jack Layton (party leader) was clearly happy about that. They are looking forward to the next election, where Jack Layton thinks they will probably break that record.
In conclusion... Stephen Harper is still Prime Minister... but he pretty much failed this election in trying to get a majority government. The Liberals seemed extremely disappointed by the amount of seats that they lost. There could be another election next year or after though, otherwise it will be in four years.
A little lesson in Canadian politics for ya, eh? (I had to add that , lol)
lol i cant stand sarah palin... im sry but when you watch her it looks like shes rlly rlly high, and she doesn't know shit all about what shes talking about.... Haha and its true, she does look like a lens crafters model.. Were not USA's bitch btw.... to be quite honest its amazing how nieve most Americans are towards us canadians.... We actually think that you guys are quite stupid since you keep re-electing the same government that caused you to go 10 trillion $ into debt. But i mean since no one understands why you are fighting in iraq, its a good reason to be attacking them right? And yea most of our leaders do kinda suck, but at least none of them have caused the world to go into chaos like yours did just a cpl weeks ago... just a tid bit of info for you guys...
hence the sentence you just quoted..... the thing is you guys caused it... which is wat im trying to get at........ Its getting pretty close to a second depression here.. Hopefully Europe helps out here... Just another extra 800 billion in debt right? no worries
wow so much for the states knowing anything rlly outside of there own country... A welfare state.. Nice... get an F in social there? Actually a socialist government would be btr than this stupid democracy we have running at the moment. I think it would be btr anywhere. Proportional representation is the way to go. Um btw thelistman a socialist state is where the government runs most things, and the people pay lots of taxes. Also proportional rep (which is wat a socialist government uses to elct people) is something where all of a country votes for a specific party and then they add up the votes into a percentage. That percantage is the seats that party gets in parliament or wat ever you wanna call it.
Wow, you have no basic knowledge at all. A Socialist state is not where the government runs everything... that's called a dictatorship!
Socialism on the other hand calls for the collective ownership of the means of production and for an egalitarian society.
Granted, I am very anti-Socialist/anti-Communist (for reasons which are discussed on another thread). But too many people, like you, have no basic understanding of these systems.
i didn't say they ran everything they run most things... which is true. And i do have a basic understanding in most system, im just not gonna go all out discussing about them. Governments do run most things in a socialist economy. Which is why Swedens hospitals fee is so low. And pretty much thanx for using what i said against me... I guess your to unoriginal to come up with your own stuff. communism would be a great idea if leaders would do wat marx said properly. Btw id rather have obama run for prime minister. He has good ideals, and he knows what he's doing. Im not sure about mc cain thow. Cant stand Sarah Palin, and Mccain is gonna be doing the same things as George Bush...
Sweden is not close to REAL Socialism either. Socialism is NOT where the government controls most things. Socialism is NOT about low hospital fees. That is the perception you get from the Cold War. Socialism is where the people collectively own the means of production. There has never been a Socialist state.
