A majority government has a majority of votes out of the total votes available (determined by the no. of mps). A minority government (like we have right now) is determined when the winning party (the Conservatives) have the most total no. of mps, but not a majority of total votes. I hope that makes sense, reading it back, I don't know. Minority governments can fall easily (was it Joe Clark that had a gov't that lasted a matter of days? - sorry, not so good with the modern Can. hist.). So, the pm will often call an election at his own time, rather than be forced to before the gov't folds.
I couldn't point you to any actual legislation, but Senators do perform an important role. One of the things they're been criticized for is non-representativenss (geographically). It was on Harper's slate for tackling with this government (the only thing I remember, I don't follow Can. politics closely) but I don't think he's gotten too far with it. Senators are appointed, sit for life, and determine? or decide upon legislation - as an American, this doesn't sit too well with me, but again, I can't give any specific examples, so I'm not going to get too worked up about it until I know more.
Maybe your DH was referring to the hockey team ?
I, also asked about if the leader of a party not winning their riding, because it was looking like Dion (I think, but am not sure) might not last time and I thought that that was really puzzling. DH had no good answer, but thought that either he could still be in charge, or that someone else within the party that had been elected would be asked to step down and give over their seat. I'm thinking he might have been making that up, so I wouldn't trust that answer. I should probably ask someone in the Pol. Sci. dept at school. I do know, though, that parties try to pick "safe" ridings to run their important candidates in, so that they'll be sure to win.
The party members decide the leader of the party at their convention. We watched the Liberal convention last year because I was excited about two academics dueling for leadership (sorry, I get excited about strange things) and it was very different than the US-style. Everyone holds pickets for their candidate, who then drops out, and they all trail over to the candidate that they're going to now put their weight behind. And then it happens again, until one remains. Lots of hugging and handshaking between opponents. It seemed a little more "united we stand" than I'd seen in the US, but again, just seen the one, and it might have been like that since the Liberal party was plagued with in-fighting over the past few years.
You should watch the Mercer Report - it's a total send-up, but also *somewhat* educational Just don't watch the "talking to Americans" part, I don't like that...