The Liberal Party has the most seats in the House of Common and their leader is the Prime Minster. As of this evening, Mark Carney is their leader. There will be a transition period, but as far as the world is concerned, Mark Carney is our Prime Minister.
District?
I'm going to assume you mean a riding? No. Not yet. That's not wildly unusual in this specific circumstance.
Can someone explain how this works?
I sort of did above, but he's been elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada. Canadians, like other countries with a parliamentary system, elect a party and not a person. Because of that, we might change PMs at any time, and it's very normal (no matter what some unhinged person on the internet tries to tell you) for a PM to resign his office mid-term and allow the party to find another leader before we head into an election. It's happened at least four times in my lifetime on a federal level and more than that if I count provincial politics.
The Liberal Party has a minority government. They had an agreement with the New Democrats to support the government until 2025. The NDP leader torn up that agreement late last year when Trudeau's popularity and hold on the party was in a freefall. So right now, the situation is precarious and Carney will likely call an election very soon.
He will also run for a seat. We don't yet know what riding he will run in. Currently, he has no seat but he is PM. I get why that's confusing, but that's how it works. It would not be something the country would tolerate for very long, but in situations like this it's not unusual. If the party elects someone who isn't currently an MP, then there's a lag period where they have the role but not the seat.
Unlike the US, we do not have a two month period where there's a PM elect. There's a transition period and it varies by circumstance. The last one was 14-16 days. Parliment is not currently in session. Carney is likely to call an election very soon. He was elected with over 85% of the vote. And the Liberals have been surging in the polls. Trudeau is leaving office more loved and admired that he has been since the middle of his first term.
