Jonathan Sanchez Moura Political Science 2 11/30/10

Country Report: Canada Introduction Canada is a country that has had a very interesting development as it has grown into the modernized industrial democracy that it is today. With colonial traditions very similar to those of its U.S. neighbors, the country began its major development in the imperialistic world of the 17th Century. Canada has spent much of recent history living in the shadow of the U.S., but has nonetheless developed into a modern, fast-paced, advanced society. Canadian society has a clear foundation rooted in British and French tradition, but the country has developed it own unique political, social, and economic environment.

History The extensive natural resources found in the Canadian landscape originally drew British and French settlers to the expansive wilderness of the country. French fur traders set up outposts and colonies in the Great Lakes area, which led to tensions with the native populations, who relied on the wild that the French were hunting, as source of life. Eventually these tensions led to the Iroquois-French wars in the mid 17th century. The British, who had their thirteen colonies to the South, saw Canada as another frontier and so began to settle the North with fishing outposts in the Newfoundland area. British and

French rivalry still existed across the Atlantic and so tensions between the groups of colonists began to escalate in the late 17th century. The Seven Years War (1756-1763) was the culmination of years of fighting between the French and British colonies and resulted in the ceding of most of French Canada to the British. (Canadian Encylopedia) 1776 brought the end of British control of the American colonies to the south of Canada, as the United States won independence. Thousands of British Loyalists fled North to Canada from the U.S. after the war, which eventually led to the constitutional act of 1791 that split Canada into French-Speaking Lower Canada and English-Speaking Upper Canada. Irresponsibility and corruption was rampant in the Canadian government during the time that the nation was split, which led to revolutions by the people who called for responsibility and change. British politician John George Lambton published the Durham report in 1838, which investigated the causes of the revolutions occurring in Canada. The findings of the report led to the Act of Union 1840, which united French and British Canada into the United Province of Canada. (Canadian Encyclopedia) Following the unification of French and British Canada, the Canadian people wanted a new constitution, resulting in several constitutional conferences. Finally in 1867 the Constitution Act the Confederation of Canada was created, consisting of four territories created from the existing colonies. Canada still kept its ties to the monarchy in England but formed a new governmental system consisting of union between a parliament and the monarchy. Canada, after years of change and transformation, was finally an independent nation under a democratic flag. (Canadian Encyclopedia)

The Electoral Process The Canadian government is organized as a constitutional monarchy that is very similar to the government of the United Kingdom. The countrys British colonial background has instilled democratic values deep into the framework of the nation. As the head of the monarchy, Queen Elizabeth II is the figurative head of state with all formal powers existing in government stemming from the Monarchy. Today, like in the United Kingdom and all other constitutional democracies, most of the power that once resided in the Monarchy is now ceremonial and all formal power exists in governmental institutions. (Krause) Of the major political institutions in Canada, only the House of Commons, the lower house of Canadian Parliament, holds national elections. Members of the Monarchy are hereditary so no elections occur within the monarchy, and the Monarch appoints the position of Governor General with recommendation coming from the Prime Minister. The national elections for the House of Commons utilize the first past the post system, meaning the candidate only need have the largest percentage of the votes, not a majority to win the seat (DOmbrian). The majority party in parliament must call elections at least once every five years, but the party also has the power to call early elections so as to increase their chances of reelection during times of high favorability. (Atkinson) There are approximately 20 registered political parties in Canada and countless unregistered parties that operate within the country (Canadian Encyclopedia). Only four of these parties are represented in the House of Commons; the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, the Bloq Quebecois, and the New Democrats (Canadian Encyclopedia). Traditionally, the Liberal and the Conservative parities have been the two

major competing powers in elections, but recently the smaller parties have been gaining momentum and support amongst the people. Currently the Conservative party, the politically right wing party of Canada, is the majority party in parliament. The Conservative Party holds 37.6% of the seats in parliament and the majority leader, Stephen Harper, is the Prime Minister of Canada. The Liberal Party, a center left party, has historically been the powerhouse in Canadian politics, holding the majority party title for 69 of the last 100 years. Two of the smaller parties in Canada that are growing in support and hold seats in the House of Commons are the New Democrats and the Bloq Quebecois. The New Democrats, a leftist social democrat party, hold 12% of the seats in the House of Commons and have grown tremendously as a party over the last two elections. The other minor party in Canada, which holds seats in the House of Commons, is the Bloc Quebecois, an interesting party consisting of both left and right members who seek to create political conditions for Quebec to secede from Canada. Though the party only actively exists and campaigns in Quebec it holds 16% of the seats in the House of Commons. Canadian party politics is very similar to those of other countries with major left and right wing political parties, but it also has its own unique parties that make for a politically diverse parliament that is creating legislation for the diverse country. (Canadian Encyclopedia)

Political Institutions The Canadian government is broken up into three branches, the Monarchy, the Executive, and the Legislative. Each of the branches have their own unique powers that contribute to the running of the country and have checks and balances over each other to

make each branch accountable. The Canadian state structure is very similar to that of the United Kingdom. There are also several forms of informal institutions that play important roles in Canadian politics, such as the media that operate in the country. It is how the formal and informal powers interact that defines the political atmosphere of a nation. (Krause) The monarch, who is currently Queen Elizabeth II, heads the first branch of the Canadian government, the Monarchy. Though the monarchy mainly has ceremonial powers, it still plays the key role of the being the face of Canada. The head of state, or the Monarch, appoints a Viceroy to Canada, who represents the Monarchy in the position of Governor General of Canada. David Lloyd Johnston is the current Viceroy and Governor General of Canada and he was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II on October 1st, 2010. The position of the Governor General acts as a bridge between the monarchy, which is centered in England, and the political institutions of Canada. Together the Governor General and the Monarchy represent the figurehead of the Canadian nation, but the true legislative power lies in the other branches of government. (Canadian Encyclopedia) Canadas next branch of Government is the Executive branch, which consists of the Prime Minster and the offices of the cabinet. The Prime Minister is a member of the majority party and is usually also the party leader. The current Prime Minster, Stephen Harper, was appointed on February 6th, 2006 and is the leader of the Conservative Party (Canadian Encyclopedia). The Prime Minister is the head of the Canadian government and has the power to choose the 30 ministers that make up the cabinet. The cabinet members lead specific ministries and must be appointed by the Governor General after being chosen by the Prime Minister. While the executive branch is the head of the

government in Canada it does not have any true legislative power. This lies in the legislative branch, but as the Prime Minster is an active member in parliament and the leader of the majority, he or she has great influence over the House of Commons. (Krause) Made up of two houses, the Upper house or the Senate, and the Lower house or the House of Commons, the Parliament holds the legislative power in Canada. The House of Commons, which is made up of 308 members, has all of the true legislative power in the Canadian parliament. Members of the House of Commons are elected in single member constituencies for five years terms. To remain in power, the majority party in the House of Commons must retain confidence and is always subject to a vote of no confidence by the minority party. The Senate, which is the Upper House of the Canadian Parliament, has 105 seats that are all appointed by the Governor General and recommended by the Prime Minister. The members of the Senate are selected for life terms until members turns 75. No true legislative power lies in the Senate; it only holds the power to slow legislation, as every law needs to pass both houses. The Senate hardly ever utilizes this minimal power as it passes almost everything presented immediately. Laws can originate in both house, except for laws dealing with the budget where it must occur in the House of Commons, but legislation rarely presents in the Senate. The Parliament of Canada is where most of the true formal governmental power resides, but formal powers are not the only important political institutions that operate in Canada. (Canadian Encyclopedia) Canadian media is very interesting to examine, because while Canada is a highly developed Media hub, it is overshadowed and saturated by the media giant that is the

United States. Most of the major news networks in Canada are owned by the U.S. media giants and are consumer-based corporations that present skewed media influenced by the parent company. This leads to a very similar problem to the one that exists in the U.S., where all of the news is biased and identical. However, unlike the U.S., Canada has several public broadcasting channels that are not affiliated with any private company or government program, which allows for freedom when it comes to information presented on these channels. Canadian Media plays a large role in informing normal citizens of their governments activity and so it influences people thoughts and actions when it comes to political participation, which is why media is an important informal power in Canadian politics. (Blidook) Political institutions are important to the running of any country, but the true test of democracy is the participation of its people because political participation is at the core of democratic values. Canada has a much higher rate of participation than the United State with around 75% of eligible voters turning out for national elections, however this rate is not very high when compared to other industrialized democracies. Around 90% of all eligible voters in Canada vote at least once in their life, which is in the bottom third of voter turnouts for other established democracies. Canadian voter turnout rate is steadily increasing at about a rate of 1-2% per year as more and more people are blaming their negligence to vote for poor performance of elected officials. Political institutions and participation are the core of any democratic society, they are the heart of the government and the soul of the nation. (Canadian Encyclopedia)

Domestic and Foreign Policy Issues In 2006 the Conservative Party of Canada became the majority party in the House of Commons for the first time since 1993. This marked a wave of change for the public policy of Canada as the ideals of the government shifted to the right. Under the lead of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the new conservative government outlined five major goals including federal accountability, tax reform, crime, health care, and childcare. The government hoped to bring the country to the right and reduce spending by cutting major public programs instituted by the Liberal powerhouse that held power for the last decade. Economic cuts were widespread across the country in the hopes of decreasing the public debt and bringing the hugely inflated budget for the country under control. The new conservative party brought an entirely new agenda to the long time Liberal government and change has not come without opposition. With the Conservative Party only having a simple majority and not holding an absolute majority of the seats in the House of Commons, liberal opposition has made passing any legislation very difficult for the new government. Working together as a bipartisan government has proved to be very difficult for the House of Commons, but public polls in the country show support for the conservative party is increasing and change on a great scale may be just on the horizon for Canada. (Weaver) Foreign policy also took a whole new direction when Stephen Harper and the conservative party took control. The first major agenda for the new government was to improve relations with the United States, as Harper felt that Liberal criticism of George W. Bush led to a deterioration of the once strong ties between the two nations. Today, Canada is source of support for U.S. troops in Afghanistan, having deployed thousands of

Canadian troops to the Middle Eastern nation. Another major recent change in Canadian foreign policy is relations with the Peoples Republic of China. Relations with the Communist nation were strong during the 1990s, but when Harper took control the conservative government took a hard stance against the human rights practices of the Chinese government (Bow). Canada tends to be a fairly neutral country, but in major conflicts sides with its NATO allies. Foreign policy is an important aspect of any government because it dictates the global power of said nation and in an increasingly globalizing world, foreign policy is becoming an essential part of any governments policy making. (Canadian Encyclopedia) (Bow)

Conclusion Canada is a highly developed constitutional monarchy that has become one of the leading examples of the power of democracy. Unfortunately, being neighbors with the worlds most powerful country often leads to Canada being overlooked in the Global community. With an established parliament and a strong political structure existing in Canada, this nation represents everything that an established democracy strives for. In a world that is becoming increasingly globalized, Canada has the opportunity to move out of the shadow that has long been cast over it by its superpower neighbor and leave its mark of the global playing field.

Works Cited Atkinson, Ken. Canadian Environments: Essays in Culture, Politics and History. British Journal of Canadian Studies 21.2: 309-29. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. Blidook, Kelly. Media, Public Opinion and Health Care in Canada: How the Media Affect the Way Things are. Canadian Journal of Political Science 41.2: 355-74. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. Bow, Brian. Paradigm and Paradoxes: Canadian Foreign Policy in Theory, Research, and Practice. International Journal 65.2: 371-80. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. The Canadian Encyclopedia. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Dominion, 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. Krause, Robert M. Introductory Readings in Canadian Government & Politics. Toronto: Copp Clark, 2005. Print. Nicholas, DOmbrain. Executive Styles in Canada: Cabinet Structure and Leadership Practices in Canadian Government. Canadian Public Administration 48.3: 449-53. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 30 Nov. 2010. Weaver, Clyde, and Peter Richards. Planning Canadas Role in the New Global Economy. Journal of the American Planning Association 51.1: 43-52. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 30 Nov. 2010.