Abstract
The Dominion of Canada was established in 1867 as a federation of British colonies in North America. The Canadian Parliament has always been bicameral. The government is responsible to the popularly elected House of Commons, where seats are distributed roughly in accord with population. Elections for the House of Commons must be held at least once every five years, and may be called earlier by the government. The upper chamber, the Senate, is an appointive body with formal powers virtually/equal to the Commons, but traditionally it has not used them. An exception was refusing to pass the proposed free trade agreement with the United States until after a general election was held in 1988.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Sources
J.M. Beck, Pendulum of Power: Canada’s Federal Elections (Scarborough, Ontario: Prentice-Hall, 1968)
J.P. Boyer, Political Rights: the Legal Framework of Elections in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver: Butterworths, 1981)
J.P. Boyer, Election Law in Canada: the Law and Procedure of Federal, Provincial and Territorial Elections (Toronto and Vancouver: Butterworths, 1987)
C. Campbell, Canadian Political Facts 1945–1976 (Toronto: Methuen, 1977)
F. Feigert, Canada Votes, 1935–1985 (Durham: Duke University Press, 1989)
P. Loveday and D. Jaensch, ‘Indigènes and electoral administration, Australia and Canada’, Electoral Studies 6,1 (1987), 31–40
T.H. Qualter, The Election Process in Canada (Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 1970)
H.A. Scarrow, Canada Votes: A Handbook of Federal and Provincial Election Data (New Orleans: The Hauser Press, 1962)
Twenty-sixth General Election, 1963, Report of the Chief Electoral Officer (Ottawa: the Queen’s Printer, 1963) and subsequent volumes in the same series
M.C. Urquhart, ed., Historical Statistics of Canada (Toronto: Macmillan & Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965)
N. Ward, The Canadian House of Commons: Representation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1950)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1991 Thomas T. Mackie and Richard Rose
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mackie, T.T., Rose, R. (1991). Canada. In: The International Almanac of Electoral History. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09851-4_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-09851-4_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-09853-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-09851-4
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)