So you’ve heard Andrew Scheer blowing smoke about how the party that wins the most seats forms the government? Nope, that’s NOT how things work in Canada. 

The party able to gain the confidence of the House of Commons (win a vote) forms the government. 

Clarity, you want? In the current House, to claim a majority, a party needs 170 of the 338 total seats. Worst case, say the Tories win 136 seats and the Liberals 132, something like that. Would Scheer become prime minister? Nope, absolutely not. No matter how much he howls and stamps his feet, that is not how “the modern” system works. 

Justin Trudeau looks around, notices that the NDP has, say, 40 seats. He does some simple math: 132 + 40 = 172. That’s a majority. He talks to Jagmeet Singh. Yes, the two parties agree to cooperate. They undertake to move forward  on those issues where they have agreement. Climate change, for example. This does NOT mean they lock themselves into a coalition. Trudeau wins a confidence vote and remains prime minister. Maybe later a coalition emerges (and the NDP gets cabinet ministers). Maybe it doesn’t. Either way, as long as Scheer does NOT win a majority, he’s toast. 

Maybe you don’t need that valium after all.