The Premiers of the individual provinces do not fill their positions without being constantly challenged. These are those checks that come from the leader of the opposition who represents the opposition party.
The System
In Canada, the Premier is voted into office by way of an election. First, an individual has to decide which party they want to join or whether they are going to act as an independent. In order to become part of a party, one has to be nominated as a candidate.
When an election is going to be run it is the political parties who decide who the candidates are that will run for the various offices. Still, anyone who is not attached to any specific party has the right to run. There are rules that are in place to be eligible for a candidate.
For the election, each province can have its own rules and not need permission from any other governing body for these. Although the electoral process is very similar to the Federal process there can be more parties at the provincial level.
During an election, it is the heads of the parties who generally run for election, with the hope of giving their party the majority in the legislature by gathering the most electoral votes. So it is up to the public which party they want in the office which then dictates who the premier will be. The leader is determined by the individual parties. There are times where voters may like an individual’s party but are not keen on the leader. They then have to make an important voting decision as to whether they are going to vote for that candidate in order to get their party the majority in the provincial parliament.
Leaders of the Opposition
If a leader who is running for the position of premier loses the election it doesn’t mean that they don’t have a role to play in the government body. The role they now take on in parliament is the leader of the opposition role. This means that throughout the term, they will challenge the premier on a constant basis throughout the period on behalf of their party. The opposition party constantly holds the leading party accountable for their actions. They basically become a thorn in the side of the premier.
When there are several parties running it can mean any of the leaders of these parties can come up with a leader of the opposition. This is determined by the party that received the most number of votes during the election. Although that leader did not win the Premier role being the leader of the opposition can be the next best thing.
Setting Up For The Next Election
Quite often, the leader of the opposition has their eyes set on the next election. How they perform as the leader of the opposition often paints a picture of how they would perform as premier. This is another reason why they will often challenge the winning party and specifically the premier. They do. however, have to walk a fine line in the challenges they present. They have to be based on what they believe are the best interests of the public in general.
A lot of what the Premier wants to do is going to be based on assembly vote. The assembly can really tie the hands of the Premier in a lot of ways and prevent them from introducing legislature that their party is keen on. This is what makes the government so complex and why it always seems that they are at each other’s throats.
It can be difficult to get any body of government to act in a bi-partisan manner.