The Prime Minister and Cabinet run the government as long as they have what?

Discover Canada records this in one direct sentence. The guide writes: The Prime Minister and the party in power run the government as long as they have the support or confidence of the majority of the MPs. The condition the test wants is therefore the support or confidence of the majority of the MPs.

The principle is precise. Discover Canada commits the government's continuation to TWO equivalent words: support OR confidence. So the government is sustained by majority MP support — and loses its mandate when that support disappears. The principle is built into Canadian responsible government: the executive must hold the confidence of the elected House.

Confidence is tested in major votes. Discover Canada writes: "When the House of Commons votes on a major issue such as the budget, this is considered a matter of confidence. If a majority of the members of the House of Commons vote against a major government decision, the party in power is defeated, which usually results in the Prime Minister asking the Governor General, on behalf of the Sovereign, to call an election." So confidence is not theoretical — it is tested in actual votes. A budget defeat is the canonical example: lose the budget, lose the confidence, and an election usually follows.

The system reflects responsible government. Discover Canada writes that ministers "must retain the 'confidence of the House' and have to resign if they are defeated in a non-confidence vote." The guide also writes: "This is the system that we have today: if the government loses a confidence vote in the assembly it must resign." So the requirement of MP majority confidence is not a custom — it is a constitutional requirement built into the system Lord Durham recommended after the 1837 rebellions, and that Lord Elgin introduced in United Canada in 1848–49 with encouragement from London. La Fontaine became the first leader of a responsible government in the Canadas. The result is that minority governments — where the party in power holds less than half the seats — must work harder to maintain confidence. Majority governments have a more comfortable position, but in either case the rule is the same: the PM and Cabinet run the government only as long as they hold the support or confidence of the majority of MPs.

The question is testing whether new citizens know what sustains the Prime Minister and Cabinet's mandate. Discover Canada commits to one condition: the support or confidence of the majority of the MPs. The right test answer matches that.

The wrong answer choices each substitute a different supporter. "The support of the Governor General" reverses the source — the GG acts on the advice of the PM, not as the source of the PM's mandate. "A minority in the Senate" is not what sustains the government — the Senate reviews bills but does not determine confidence. "The backing of the opposition" reverses roles — the opposition exists to oppose, not back, the government. Only the majority-MP-confidence answer matches.