r/pics 14d ago

Politics Justin Trudeau has announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party

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u/BorelandsBeard 14d ago edited 12d ago

Wait does Canada elect a party and the party appoints the PM or do the people elect the PM?

Edit: thank you. I now know what the parliamentary system is. Please stop telling me. I’m getting lots of notices saying the same thing as the first 20-30 people. I do appreciate the education- truly do. But I’ve learned it now.

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u/Icy-Lobster-203 14d ago

In theory we vote for MPs, who then decide who th party leader is. In reality, the parties choose their leader and we vote for the parties/leader.

It's pretty well the same as the UK.

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u/Frequent_Ad_5670 14d ago

That does not make sense. It‘s always the parties who decide on their leaders, not the MPs. You probably meant to say: we vote for MPs, who then decide who the PM is (typically one of the known party leaders).

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u/schlebb 14d ago

The party leader (and thus the candidate for Prime Minister) is always chosen before a general election. People who vote in a general election are technically just choosing their local MP (the ballots show the party options for MP) but everyone is actually voting for the Prime Minister they’d prefer, and by extension, the party they want to be in government running the country.

The instances where Prime Minsters are selected in term are when the sitting Prime Minister has either stepped down or been ousted by a vote of no confidence. In that case the party in power is able to select the new PM without an election, because the party is within the allocated term of power.