does canada's prime minister hold a seat in the house of commons
House of Commons of Canada Though it does not formally elect the prime minister, the House of Commons indirectly controls the premiership. By convention, the prime minister is answerable to, and must maintain the support of, the House of Commons. Thus, whenever the office of prime minister falls vacant, the governor general has the duty of appointing the person most likely to command the support of the House—normally the leader of the largest party in the lower house, although the system allows a coalition of two or more parties. This has not happened in the Canadian federal parliament, but has occurred in Canadian provinces. The leader of the second-largest party (or in the case of a coalition, the largest party out of government) usually becomes the Leader of the Official Opposition. Moreover, the prime minister is, by unwritten convention, a member of the House of Commons, rather than of the Senate. Only two prime ministers governed from the Senate: Sir John Abbott (1891–1892) and Sir Mackenzie Bowell (1894–1896). Both men got the job following the death of a Prime Minister, and did not contest elections.
New Democratic Party The NDP has often been Canada's third or fourth largest party in Parliament, at times aligning itself with the Liberal Party of Canada, as it did during the minority government of Lester B. Pearson from 1963 to 1968, Pierre Trudeau from 1972 to 1974, and Paul Martin from 2004 to 2006. Following the 1993 federal election the NDP was reduced to fourth place behind the Bloc Québécois, a position it would maintain for most of the next two decades. In the 2011 federal election under the leadership of Jack Layton, the NDP won the second-most seats in the House of Commons, gaining the position of Official Opposition for the first time in the party's history. The NDP then lost 59 seats during the 2015 federal election and fell to third place in Parliament, though it is their second best seat count to date.