Some residents of the federal riding of Flamborough-Glanbrook will head to the polls Oct. 21 with the intention of supporting Elizabeth May, Andrew Scheer, Jagmeet Singh or Justin Trudeau.

Sadly, this is not how our democracy, one of the oldest in the world, works. Canadians do not elect prime ministers, they elect parliaments.

In these partisan times (not yet as rapacious as our American cousins), it is important to understand how parliaments are elected and governments formed out of them.

On Oct. 21, the country will not experience a single election, but rather 338 simultaneous elections. With around 36 million people, each with their own ideologies and perspectives, our democracy operates by selecting representatives to speak on their behalf.

The country has been divided into 338 ridings, roughly based on population, with between 30,000 and 100,000 residents in each. When the Gov. General ordered the election in September, she commissioned 338 separate “writs” of election to be drawn up.

With the writs signed and sealed, campaigning began in each riding. Representatives, called candidates, from various political parties — how many depends on the riding you are in — are now competing for votes within their district. In Flamborough-Glanbrook these candidates are Allison Cillis, Janet Errygers, Jennifer Stebbing, David Sweet (incumbent), and David Tilden. It is their names that will appear on our ballots on election day. The candidate that gets the most votes becomes Flamborough-Glanbrook's representative in the 43rd Parliament of Canada.

Following the election, a government will be formed from the elected representatives sent to Ottawa. The general rule is the political party (or group of parties) that can command the confidence (meaning get major bills like budgets passed) gets first crack at forming the government. Once this is figured out (in a majority government it’s pretty clear-cut, but a minority situation government formation can take some interesting forms), the leader of the political party that will head the new government travels to Rideau Hall to meet with the Gov. General.

Once received, the Gov. General will invite that leader to form the next government: after the required oaths and signatures, they become the chief adviser to the Crown, or the prime minister. In Canada, sovereign power is held by the Crown, but can only exercised by a duly elected government. Our democratic traditions reinforce this separation to remind our representatives that while governments come and go, the State or Crown, is forever. This ensures that a politician does not see themselves and the State as one in the same.

The second largest political party represented in Parliament (outside of the government) forms Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, meaning loyal to the State, but not to the government. Their role is to hold the government to account as it implements its legislative agenda, as well as governs the country. In this effort, they are joined by the remaining elected representatives.

Throughout the life of a Parliament, the paramount responsibility of the various MPs is to represent the interests of their constituents (including those who didn’t vote for them) in our country’s highest legislative body. The local member of Parliament is your voice in Canada’s supreme law-making body, which is why it is the local candidates’ names that will appear on ballots this Oct. 21.

It is our responsibility as voters to learn about our local candidates and the parties they represent. Each voter must look at the names offered to them in Flamborough-Glanbrook and put their “X” beside the one that they trust, sometimes regardless of party affiliation, to represent their interests on the national stage.

— Nathan Tidridge is a Waterdown author and history teacher at Waterdown District High School.