A first term Prime Minister with a parliamentary majority has never lost re-election in the past 84 years. And tonight, Justin Trudeau has kept that record clean with a minority projected.
Justin Trudeau is poised to serve another term as Canadian prime minister after Liberal Party earned a plurality of seats in the general election, according to the projections.
To deal with situations in parliamentary systems where no majority exists, two or more parties may establish a formal coalition government, commanding a clear majority of the parliamentary members, or a party might enter into less formal alliances or agreements with other parties, or individual members, to allow the minority government to stay in office.
A common situation is governance with “jumping majorities”: the cabinet stays as long as it can negotiate support from a majority in the parliament, even though that majority may be differently formed from issue to issue or from bill to bill.
On occasion the legislature may permit a minority cabinet to continue in office despite having been defeated on a given vote, and a minority government might even bring on a confidence vote and threaten to resign should the legislature vote against it.