Minority? Majority? Coalition? What do they mean? #elxn43

After the votes are counted there are several possibilities as to how the next government is formed. We could end up with a minority government, majority government, or coalition government. Here is what each of those mean:

Minority Government A minority government occurs when no party has a majority of seats in the House of Commons. Typically, but not necessarily, the party with a plurality of seats forms the government. Canada has had 13 minority governments, most recently experiencing its longest period of minority government with three successive minority governments between 2004 and 2011.

Majority Government A majority government occurs when a party has a majority of seats in the House of Commons. There are 338 seats in the House of Commons, meaning a party would need to win 170 seats to win a majority.

Coalition Government A coalition government is when two or more parties join together so they have more seats than the governing party. Then those parties would work together as government.