Canadians want Majority Government - but divided on Who

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Canada has a parliamentary system of gouvernment with 308 ridings (equal to District in the US).  This ridings represent the House of Commons with 308 seats.  A majority government requires one of the parties to receive at least 155 seats.

The Upper House, the Senate, is appointed by the Prime Minister.  The Head of State is the Queen, represented by the Governor General, also appointed, on recommendation to the Queen, by the Prime Minister.  

The majority of ridings in Canada are in the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario, based on population.

The major political parties, represented in the House of Commons are the Liberal Party of Canada, The Conservative Party of Canada, the New Democratic Party and the BLOC Quebecois (which only runs in Quebec)

In late 2008 there was an attempt to oust the present Conservative government by forming a coalition between the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party supported by the BLOC Quebecois.  This would have been new territory for Canadian politics.

Prime Minister Harper was able to avoid this by paroguing Parliament.

A new poll commissioned by the CBC and EKOS has shown that Canadians now have a clear desire for a majority government.  Canadians are split on whether this government should be headed by the Conservatives or the Liberals.

The poll asked which outcome in the next election would be the best:

A minority Liberal government

A majority Liberal governemnt

A minority Conservative government

a majority Conservativ government

None of the Above

Nationally, 26 per cent of those polled said they wanted a Liberal majority, while 25 per cent called for a Conservative majority. An equal amount — 25 per cent — responded with "none of the above."

Fifteen per cent of those polled called for a Liberal minority and nine per cent said the best result would be a Conservative minority.

The poll did not address a coalition government.