Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada, the head of the Canadian government, is usually the leader of the political party with the most seats in the Canadian House of Commons. The Prime Minister has the right to the style of Right Honourable. The current prime minister is the Right Honourable Paul Martin.

Term

A prime minister does not a have a fixed term. A prime minister may resign for personal reasons at any time, but is required to resign only when an opposition party wins a majority of the seats in the House. If his or her party loses a motion of no confidence, a prime minister may resign (allowing another party to form the government), or more often will appeal to the people by having Parliament dissolved and a general election held. If a general election gives an opposition party a plurality of the seats, the prime minister's party is still given the first opportunity to continue as the government. The incumbent prime minister may attempt to gain the support of another party (a coalition government), or he/she may resign and allow the party that won the most seats to form the government.

Related Topics:
Motion of no confidence - Plurality - Coalition government

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An election for every seat in the Commons (a general election) is called at most 5 years after the previous one; however, the prime minister has the power to call a general election at virtually any time. Customarily, when a majority government is in power, elections are called 3.5 to 5 years after the previous election or as a de facto referendum if a major issue is at hand (the last of these being the 1988 election, which revolved around free trade with the United States). If a minority government is in power, a vote of non confidence in the House of Commons may lead to a quick election (nine months in the case of the second-most recent Canadian minority government, the Clark government of 1979-1980).

Related Topics:
Majority government - United States - Minority government - Non confidence - Clark

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In contrast to the British government, in which members of Parliament have long tenure but prime ministers have relatively short tenures, the Canadian prime minister typically has a long tenure except in cases where there is a minority government.

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