1. The Electoral System

2. Federal and Provincial governments hold elections at least every five years
The PM can choose a time that is convenient for his party (high popularity numbers) or may be forced into it if a major bill is defeated in the House of Commons
The PM then asks the Governor General to dissolve Parliament
Canadians do not vote directly for their PM
Canadians vote for a candidate to represent their riding or constituency
The party that has the most elected members of Parliament gets to form the next government
The leader of the party becomes the PM

3. Elections have six stages – dissolution, enumeration, nomination, campaigning, balloting, and tabulation

4. Dissolution
the session of the House of Commons comes to an end, and MPs effectively lose their jobs

5. Enumeration
Chief Electoral Officer is in charge of this stage, preparing the voters’ list

6. Nomination
Candidates are selected for each party in each riding (geographic areas representing about people)

7. Campaigning
Candidates are given media coverage, make speeches, promote their party platform and hold meetings – all donations given to a party that is over 200 dollars must be made public

8. Balloting
Voters go to polling stations in their communities to vote, mark, and “X” by the name of the candidate they want to represent their riding

9. Tabulation
Votes are counted