POLI 101 - Midterm + Final review
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School
University of British Columbia *
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Course
101
Subject
Political Science
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
Pages
18
Uploaded by MinisterGalaxy8893
Midterm Sample #1
1.
B
2.
A
3.
C
4.
B
5.
D
6.
A
7.
C
8.
B
9.
C
10. A
11. B
12. C
13. B
14. A
15. A
16. A
17. D
18. A
19. C
20. C
Definition short answers (3-4 sentences)
Minority government:
●
A minority government refers to when the governing party holds less than 50% of the
seats in the House of Commons. It is sufficient if the Cabinet is able to command the
confidence of the House. that means gaining the support of the majority of the MPs.
(Some tactics they would use are introducing measures that at least one of the major
opposition parties cannot disagree with and introducing measures that that the
opposition parties cannot agree with to get the election it would like and blame the
opposition for “forcing” the country to go through a presented unnecessary and
wasteful election.) It is significant because under such a government, legislation can
only be passed with the support or consent of enough MPs of the legislature. Due to
their need for support from other parties, they usually govern in a more moderate
and less arrogant fashion.
Interest Aggregation
●
Interest aggregation is one of the five functions of political parties and refers to a
political party’s attempt to identify, present, and balance the diverse interest of
Canadians. Parties are seen as “coalitions” of different social interest and they group
together to advocate these interests together more effectively. This is significant as
this is an important function of democracy within parties. This ensures fair treatment
for all Canadians and make sure everyone has a say. (If there are no political parties
and interest aggregation, MPs would be free to vote for whatever was in the best
interest of their own constituents and the most demographically powerful regions
would dominate decisions simply to their own advantage. But political parties seek
votes of all groups which offers a relatively fair deal to all major categories of voters)
Patriation
●
Patriation refers to bringing the constitution home, making it fully under the Canadian
government. It is the process that led to full Canadian sovereignty. This happened
with the Constitution Act of 1982 when Canada take full of its own Constitution and
became a fully independent country. The patriation process saw the provinces
granted influence in constitutional matters and resulted in the constitution being
amendable by Canada only according to its amending formula.
Prorogation
●
Prorogation refers to the action of interrupting/terminating a session of Parliament for
a given period of time. The government remains in power but all parliamentary
activities such as legislation are suspended and have to recall parliament if it wants
to introduce or pass a bill. This led to the prorogation crisis of responsible
government in 2008 with Stephen Harper’s government which demonstrates the
conventions of Responsible Government can be in conflict because they lack clarity.
Equalization
●
Equalization refers to the federal government providing unconditional money to
provinces whose tax revenues (fiscal capacity) fall below the national average,
established in CA 1982. This is significant as it ensures that social (public services)
and economic conditions across the country remain roughly equal at reasonable
levels of taxation. It treats provinces unequally to achieve equitable outcomes,
therefore is controversial as richer provinces find it unfair as they don’t receive any or
little compared to the poorer provinces. It also creates 2 classes of provinces, as well
conflict and division between them.
Party System
●
Party system is the structure and characteristics of electoral competition among
political parties, such as the number and type of parties, the nature of party support
and the dominant issues. Different types of parties include electoralist parties,
brokerage parties, ideological parties, single-issue parties, and protest parties.
Canada has a multi-party system which allows for the development of different
parties that represent different ideological position and political interests.
Single Member Plurality
●
The electoral system used by Canada. The country is divided into a number of
electoral districts allocated by province and population, each has one representative.
The form of voting is using a ballot where voters only get one choice. The criteria for
winning is plurality, where the candidate with the most votes in a district wins. It is
significant as it rewards national large parties with a more efficient distribution of
votes, encourages regionalism by favouring small regional parties that focus on
regional interests and distort regional strengths and weaknesses of national parties,
creating regional conflicts.
Division of Powers
●
Division of Powers refers to the assigning of responsibilities to different levels of
government in a federal system. It reflects the structuring of political authority in the
original 1867 Canadian Constitution (s.91&92) and gives important nation-building
powers to the federal government and the powers for local development and
protection of language and culture to provinces, both of which arise from the reasons
for creating the Canadian federal system.
Long answers (5-7 sentences)
To what extent does the Constitution Act, 1867 fulfill the basic functions of a
constitution? How does the Constitution Act, 1982 add to Canada’s constitutional
framework? (2)
●
The basic functions of a constitution are establish political authority, division of
powers, delineate the limits of governmental power, and provides amending formulas
to the Constitution. The Constitution Act of 1867 defines constitutional monarchy
which illustrates the outline of executive and legislative power in the federal
government, and the fundamental rules governing judicial power in Canada, which
defines part of the political authority system in Canada. It also establishes
Federalism and the division of powers, so powers are distributed between the federal
government and provincial governments, and ensures minority rights related to
language and culture are protected, which fulfills the division of powers function of
the constitution. The Constitution Act of 1982 then fulfill the functions not covered by
the 1867 Constitution, which are the limits of government. It did so by enshrining the
Charter of Rights and Freedom which promotes the rights of individuals and limits
the power of government. And covers the amending framework of a constitution by
outlining the procedure for amending the Constitution of Canada, which are the
general procedure: the 7/50 rule, and the unanimous consent procedure. These 2
rules fulfill the amending function of a constitution.
What are the most important conventions of Canada’s system of Responsible
Government? (3)
●
The five most important conventions of Canada’s system of Responsible
Government are (i) the Crown is symbolic when it comes to the use of executive
power and must act on the “advice” of the government, (ii) collective responsibility:
the ministers will act together as a team or “ministry” led by the prime minister with
each minister sharing in the responsibility for all policy decisions made by any
member of the ministry,(iii) the Crown’s ministers are appointed from the Members of
Parliament to facilitate executive accountability, (iv) the Crown will only appoint and
maintain ministers who have the confidence of the House, meaning the support of a
majority of the MPs, and (v) when the ministry loses the confidence of the House, the
PM must either resign or request new elections. These conventions together
How do the arrangements of fiscal federalism address differences between the federal
government and provinces, and among the provinces?
●
Fiscal federalism refers to the financial arrangements between the federal and
provincial levels of government, primarily through transfers from the federal
government to provinces to address fiscal imbalance, which is when the government
doesn’t have the resources it needs to meet its demand on spending. To address the
vertical fiscal imbalance which is disparity of spending demands between the federal
government and provincial governments since the provincial government spendings
require much due to the many responsibilities they take on, the federal government
funds provincial programs through transfer payments such as the Canadian Health
Transfer (CHT) which is funding for health care service, and the Canadian Social
Transfer (CST) which is funding for social services and education. To address the
horizontal fiscal imbalance which is disparity among provinces in resources due to
some provinces are more wealthy than others and are able to meet their spending
demands, the federal government releases equalization payments to provinces
whose fiscal capacity is below the national average to ensure that social (public
services) and economic conditions across the country remain roughly equal at
reasonable levels of taxation.
How do Canada’s major political parties reflect different ideological perspectives?
●
The Liberal party generally stays in the ‘centre’ to ‘centre-left’ in politics, meaning
they are more in favour of government intervention economically and socially. They
have progressive beliefs and ground their ideological identity in the Canadian
Charter, and support individual rights and freedom, policies such as gun control,
cannabis legalization, MAID, and choice in abortion. They also believe in centralized
governments. For the Conservative Party, it is more in the ‘centre-right’ socially and
economically. That means they have traditional conservative beliefs such as
believing in the social class system, and applying limitations, restrictions, and
collective control for the good of the community, and also in social inequality and
personal economic freedom, as well as traditional beliefs on morality and law&order
issues. They believe in a decentralized government and empower provincial
governments. As for the New Democratic Party (NDP), it is a social democratic party
born out of a labour/socialist movement, and is known as the ‘party of the working
class’. Its goal was to eradicate capitalism and to create a socialist state. Although it
started as a ‘centre-left’ social party, it has moved towards the centre in recent years.
It is in favour of government intervention and supports policies such as universal
health care. It is also the most progressive party on morality, law, and order issues.
What are the major arguments for and against adopting a Proportional Representation
electoral system?
●
The main arguments for adopting a proportional representation electoral system are
parties get seats in proportions that mirror the total vote distribution (translates voter
preferences into representation without distortion) which appeals to democratic
principle, does not favour certain types of parties and disadvantage others. It allows
smaller and fringe parties to gain more seats and play a much larger role in the
legislature, This system also avoid votes being “wasted”, therefore producing more
diverse representation within each party caucus and produce more consensus-based
politics. The system’s disadvantages include producing more unstable governments
based on ‘elite’ bargaining, and since each party’s seat is based on its proportion of
the overall vote, majority governments would be rare. Small parties like single-issue
parties and ideological parties would gain seats, and minority governments would
have to make a deal with one of them to sustain their power when in danger of losing
a confidence vote, which means minor parties would dictate their terms to the party
in power. The system also won’t guarantee an MP for each local voting district, and
the candidates would be party loyalists instead of individuals, making them less
responsible to the electorate and subordinate to the party boss. The output process
in voting such as ranking would also require more of the voters, making it more
complex.
Final Sample 1
Part A: Terms & Concepts
●
10 terms, answer 6 (1 point each)
●
Definition (1-2 sentences)
●
Significance (1-2 sentences)
○
Why is the term important in the context of the course? What broader themes
can this term be attached to?
●
Minimum 3 sentences
1) Oakes Test
The Oakes Test is a legal test used in Canadian law for the Court to determine whether a
government infringement on a Charter right is justified. This test was established by the
Supreme Court of Canada in the 1986 R v Oakes case and provides a framework for balancing
individual rights and the public interest. In the Oakes Test, the government must first
demonstrate that the infringement of the protected right has a pressing and substantial public
purpose. Next, they must demonstrate that the means chosen to achieve this objective are
proportional or reasonable, are minimally impairing the protected right, and the benefits
outweigh the negative impacts on the right.
This is important for our understanding of the interpretation of the Charter and for protecting
Canadian citizens’ rights and freedoms.
2) Adversarial System
Refers to the fundamental division of government and the opposition parties in the HOC,.They
are seen as two opposing sides with different interests and goals. The government is
responsible for introducing legislation and policies, while the opposition’s role is to critique and
scrutinize the government’s actions. This system is designed to promote discussions and
debate, with the goal of arriving at the best possible outcome for Canadians, based on the idea
of “conflict produces truth”.
Significant as it ensures that the governing party is held accountable, all voices are heard and
different perspectives are taken into account when making decisions, which is a crucial
component of the democratic process in Canada
3) Proportional Representation
A family of electoral systems and an alternative to the SMP. Each party’s seat share equals their
vote share as closely as possible so voter preferences into representation would not be
distorted which appeals to democratic principles. It is significant as it produces more diverse
representation within each party caucus which allows for more consensus-based politics and
empowers small fringe parties.
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