Consensus government

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Consensus government is a non-partisan, democratic system of government in use in two Canadian territories. In a consensus government, elected deputies do not sit as members of political parties but rather act as independent representatives from their districts.

In Canada, this system exists in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, territories with large aboriginal populations, and was accordingly inspired by aboriginal systems of governance. In this system, all citizens of a territory are entitled to stand for election in their electoral district, and to vote for an individual as their Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). There are no political parties. Once the Legislature is constituted, its members elect the premier, the speaker and the cabinet from amongst themselves.

While consensus models of discourse often require that a true consensus be reached, in consensus government policies advanced to the government are decided upon by majority vote; the government must therefore support policies that please a majority of the entire legislature if it wants them to pass. Notions of confidence votes, caucusing, party discipline are not relevant to such deliberations.