What happens to the leader of a party?

As most people know, Canada is in an election. I have recent tried to figure this out but don't fully know what to think. Say, for example, that the Liberal party comes into power, they gain the most seats. But what happens if the leader (Ignatieff) doesn't get elected in his/her riding? Is he/she still able to be Prime Minister?|||It is technically possible, although quite rare, for someone who is not a member of the House of Commons to serve as Prime Minister. It has happened in the past, the last time, briefly, in 1984. Before that, you need to go back to the 19th Century. The expectation is that the Prime Minister should be a member of the House of Commons.





What is more likely to happen in the eventuality that a Party Leader were to lose the election for his/her riding, but his/her Party were to gain a majority, is that a junior member of the new Majority Party from a "safe" riding would resign from his/her seat and in the resulting by-election to fill the vacancy, the party leader would run and likely win.|||By law, the Prime Minister is appointed by the governor general (as are all the cabinet ministers). There's no explicit legal requirement that they sit in the House of Commons (actually, there's no explicit legal acknowledgement that the position even exists, the rules are set by tradition rather than legislation). However, by longstanding convention the PM should command the confidence of the House, and so the person the GG appoints is almost always an MP. Also as a matter of convention, the GG has no real discretion in making the appointment, the House tells him or her who the PM is, not the other way around.





Your scenario is kind of unlikely, because it's hard to imagine a combination of party popularity and leader unpopularity that'd lead to your sequence of events. This is reinforced by the fact that leaders usually run in fairly safe seats. But if it did occur, I think what would happen is GG would ask the deputy leader of the Liberals (Ralph Goodale, IIRC) to form government as PM. The Liberal party would decide whether Ignatieff should try to win a seat or step down as leader - and they'd almost certainly pick the latter. Then they'd hold a leadership convention to either acclaim Goodale as party leader or elect somebody else.





In the meantime, if it's a minority situation it's entirely possible one or more opposition parties would claim Ignatieff's defeat means the Liberals don't actually have a mandate or the confidence of the House. This could lead to other parliamentary wrangling, and/or a new election, but there's too many variables to predict.|||You need to be a member of Parliament to be Prime Minister. Typically, what many think would happen in the unlikely event that a leader lost (and, by the time that one becomes a serious contender for leadership, you are probably running in a very safe riding) would be that another member of the party would serve as interim prime minister while another member in a suitably safe seat would resign to permit the leader to run in a by-election.|||They would probably pick a strong liberal riding and hold a by-election with Ignatieff running. This would secure him a seat.