Is the coalition “legal” and does it fit within the Canadian concept of “democracy”?

Yes.

The question of who forms the Canadian “government” at any given time is a question of how the members of parliament organize themselves: it can be a majority, a minority or a coalition.

When Canadians vote in a general election, they do not vote for a Prime Minister, nor do they vote for a government. Instead, Canadians vote for a member of parliament (“MP”) to represent their riding in Ottawa. Each MP gets a “seat” in the House of Commons. In all, 308 MPs are chosen.

The Prime Minister is actually appointed by the Governor General (“GG”). The GG, as the representative of the Queen, who, technically, is Canada’s head of state (in other words, the PM is not the head of state). The Prime Minister then chooses from among the MPs to appoint the members of the Cabinet.

As noted on www.thetyee.ca:

The Constitution Act of 1867 doesn't even mention the prime minister or political parties. MPs are everything.

How MPs organize themselves is entirely up to them. This is why two MPs are able to currently sit as independents; there could just as easily be 308 of them. Most MPs have organized themselves into groupings known as parties. This simplifies the process of forming government but doesn't change the constitutional pre-eminence of individual MPs.

There is just one basic requirement: The government must at all times enjoy the confidence of the majority of MPs in the House of Commons.

In other words, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet can only remain as the “government” of Canada for as long as they have the support of a majority of the MPs.

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See also: More Coalition Government and Prorogation of Parliament FAQs

Updated December 2008

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