How does a Federal election work?
Canada uses the First Past the Post voting system with 343 election ridings across Canada. Each riding is a geographic area split up by population with each political party being allowed to have someone from their party participate, or "run", in a riding as a Candidate.
The Candidates in the ridings are the ones you're voting for. The Candidate with the most votes in a riding will be elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) and fill a literal seat in the House of Commons.
In the Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish riding, these are the following candidates to choose from:
Conservative - Allan MacMaster
Independent - Rebecca Wall
Liberal - Jaime Battiste
NDP - Joanna Clark
PPC - Ryan Smyth
2025 Federal Election Ridings for Nova Scotia
The Party Leader is the person you see representing the political party. They are chosen by members within the specific party in advance of the election. The Party Leader is who will assume the role of Prime Minister if the party wins the election.
To determine which party has won the election, we total up all the new MP's by their affiliated party.
A Majority Government would be 172 seats or more (requires more than half of all seats). This allows them to govern without needing support from other parties.
A Minority Government would mean no party reached 172 seats. Which ever party has the most seats would form government but would most likely have to work with the other parties in order to pass legislation.
This is how the House of Commons would have looked in 2019.
CBC's Poll Tracker can give you an idea of how it may look in the 2025 election.
