Government and Politics

Canada The politics of Canada function within a framework of constitutional monarchy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions.

Unit 16

Constitution of Canada• Canada is a constitutional monarchy.• The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law

in Canada; the country's constitution is an amalgam of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. It outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens.

amalgam: [ ə'mælgəm ]

n. 混合物

Official Head of State • Canada is a monarchy. • The official head of state is the Queen.• Governor General represents the Queen. • When heads of state visit Canada, they will first be

greeted by the Governor-General, before being welcomed by the Prime Minister.

Michaëlle Jean—the first black Canadian Governor General

Stephen Harper

Key TopicsKey Topics• Historical background

• Structures of government

• The Federal Political Scene

• Canadian Prime Ministers

Historical Background• Two Major Foreign Influences

Legacy as a former colony of Britain

Powerful influence from the USA

Founding PrinciplesFounding Principles

• Peace, Order, and Good Government

• Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Tolerance of different values and customs

Balance between Community and Individual Rights

Structures of Government

• Westminster Style Democracy

• The Queen & the Governor General

• Federal Government

• The Parliament

Federal Government• Canada is a federation.• The government may refer to the federal,

provincial or municipal government. • Canada was the first political community to

combine federalism with a British system of government, a model which was later applied to other areas in the British Commonwealth.

Flexile Federal System (federal, provincial and shared jurisdictions)

Examples of distribution of powers

Federal Provincial Shared- Foreign affairs - Education - Taxation- National defence - Health - Commerce- Air transportation - Social services - Justice- Immigration - Job training - Environment

Each order of government is free to enact language legislation in its areas of responsibility.

The Parliament• The Federal Government or Parliament of Canada is made

up of three elements: the Sovereign represented by the Governor General an appointed Upper House called the Senate an elected Lower House called the House of Commons• The consent of all three elements is needed for the

passage of legislation.

Political Parities• Conservative Party• Green Party• Liberal Party• New Democratic Party

Canada UK

Westminster Style Democracy

Parliamentary democracy constitutional monarchy

The Head of State

The Queen

Governor-General

The Queen

Government Federation

Federal Government

Provincial Government

Parliament House of commons

The senate

House of Lords

House of Commons

Main Parties

The Liberal Party

The Progressive Conservatives

The Bloc Quebecois

The Reform Party

The Conservative Party

The Labor Party

The Liberal Democrats

NZ Ireland US Australia

Representative democracy

Parliamentary democracy

liberal democratic

Prime minister, deputy prime minister

Governor-General

The Dail and the senate

the House of Representatives & the Senate

ALP

Coalition

Nationalism and Quebec

• Quebec is a province in the central part of Canada.

• It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population, and the only one whose sole official language is French.

• Quebec Question is one of the problems that Canada has been faced with long since. Quebec Question is the Quebec sovereignty movement which is a political movement aimed at attaining independent statehood.

Nationalism• Nationalism plays a large role in the politics of

the province, with all three major provincial political parties seeking greater autonomy and recognition of the Quebec people as a nation.

• Sovereigntist governments held referendums on independence in 1980 and 1995, and the Canadian House of Commons passed a symbolic motion recognizing the "Québécois as a nation within Canada".

Nationalism and Quebec• English Canada and Quebec both under threat

• English Canada worried about Americanization• Quebec worried about linguistic (and hence cultural)

assimilation

• Accommodation constrained by elements of Canadian political culture

• strong federal government• equality of the provinces• equality of linguistic rights• inviolability of individual rights

Pierre Trudeau

Brian Mulroney

Jean Chrétien