Flirting With Federalism : Canada 's Calling

Canada’s government is a democracy like the United States, however their style of government is different. The Canadian government is based on a parliamentary democracy while the United States is based on a federal presidential constitutional republic. The parliament of Canada establishes laws and rights to citizens. In the United States Congress passes laws and legislation. In this section, I will discuss political system, business regulations, free trade agreements, and social conflicts

Canadian Federalism emerged in 1867 and brought together disparate colonies under one centralized government. Initially, the colonies were opposed to the thought of federalism, as many believed they would lose their independence by giving up certain powers to a national government. The central government would control defense, foreign affairs, money, postage, and taxation; Furthermore, numerous colonists preferred dealing with London, as opposed to Canada East or Canada West. The colonies additionally did not feel a great attachment to the people of other colonies. French Canadians felt no desire to become a minority in a larger English-speaking majority country. Similarly, the maritime provinces had closer economic links to Britain and the Eastern United States than to the Canadas. The push towards federalism though took root after the threat of annexation by the United States, and the idea of Manifest Destiny; which led to the system of government that Canada utilizes today. Although, advocates of federalism argue that it promotes unity, and financial benefit, opponents believe the time-consuming process and special favoritism to Central Canada is a drawback to Federalism.

Canada’s form of government can be described as three different levels; the federal government, provincial and territorial governments, and municipal (local) governments. Canada also has a Constitutional Monarchy and a Parliamentary meaning Canada recognizes Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the state, their prime minister, Justin Trudeau, as the head of the government and the governor general as the representation of the queen in Canada.

"The Canadian mosaic" is a term that reflects reflect the homogeneity of the Canadian population at the present time.

In order to delve into this topic, it is important to understand the American philosophy of federalism.

Similar to the benefits of Canada’s universal healthcare system, Canada is known for, and prides itself on the great variety of cultures, ethnicities and religions that are present within the country. In 1971, the Canadian government began to recognize the value of all diversities and officially adopted the Multiculturalism policy. Since then, Canada has been named “the mosaic” since the nation continually

“The government should not be guided by temporary excitement, but by sober second thought,” stated Martin Van Buren in 1838. In Canada’s government today, this “sober second thought” is provided by the upper house of Parliament, the Senate. This legislative Chamber, created under the Constitution Act of 1867, has, for the most part, met its purpose of considering and revising legislation, investigating national issues, and giving the regions of Canada an equal voice in Parliament; however, due to poor judgment in appointment and a resulting lack of qualification in members, the Senate has also been deemed scandalous and undemocratic. The Senate bears much value as it is crucial to a perceptive government; however, it also bears the need for

bureaucracy, and judiciary branch. Canada is a fusion of the British parliamentary system with American

Since the beginning of Canadian history, regionalism has had a prominent effect on the country`s political system. The concept of regionalism can be defined as a political ideology grounded on a shared sense of place or attachment and is discussed in terms of Canadian society, culture, economy and politics.1 From the days of confederation, Canada has developed into regional cleavages and identities based on various geographical characteristics, traditional lifestyles and economic interests. Two of Canada`s greatest regionally distinct political cultures are known as Western alienation and Quebec nationalism.2 Historically, the lack of regional awareness and accommodation within Canada’s central government has given rise to a great deal

At this point in time a new proposition has been offered by those within Upper Canada, a new idea meant to divide Canada even further. Upper Canada has gone on to show their intentions to divide the government according to the areas of Upper and Lower Canada. A government should be a unifying presence, yet many wouldn’t be too opposed to this as a government meant to focus on the affairs of the different conditions would sound rather beneficial, yet, this is where the problem lies.

In the book, Equal as Citizens by Richard Starr, he explains the historical imbalances of political economics of Canadian Federalism since confederation in 1867. With that being said, he covers a wide range of ground on the statistics of fiscal federalism, and points out how this federal fiscal system has not been fair in equally distributing the funds for social programs. His main argument is how Maritimes were directly affected by these imbalances of federalism, and have remained so in recent times. However, he fails to inform the reader of the Indigenous title to the land by Treaties, and how this correlates with the exploitation of natural resources in different provinces in Canada. The revenues that were and still are generating on Indigenous

The federal, provincial and territorial governments are in charge of Canada’s health care system including the achievement of the social determinants of health such as proper housing, education, sanitation for every eligible citizen (Health Canada, 2011). Majority of the responsibilities of delivering, maintaining and improving health and social services are directed by the provincial and territorial governments, while the federal government is responsible for funding health care services to provinces and territories that are covered by the Canada Health Act (CHA), setting and ensuring that every province and territories adheres to the Canada Health Act principles and providing health and social services to certain group of people such as

A positive component of United States government that Canada can benefit from is our even distribution of power.

Thirdly, the structure of the Canadian parliament is not the only method that can be used. Types of reforms that have been proposed have been based off of other country upper house configurations. Those countries have shown working alternative ways of how to separate powers over the legislative bodies. The Federal Republic of Germany has an alternative approach to federalism which differs to that of Canada and so does the United States of America. Those two countries have been very successful with their unique forms of parliament and offer an alternative structure to what Canada currently has.

Canada has more to offer than the naked eye can see, it has 34,834,841 people and is the 37th largest country in the world by population. It is the 2nd largest country in the world by a measure of 9,984,670 square kilometers. A land of huge distances and rich valuable things from nature, Canada became a self-controlling in 1867. The nation has developed, along with the US, its neighbor to the south across the world's longest weak border. Canada faces the political challenges of meeting public demands for quality improvements in health care, education, social services, and money, as well as responding to the concerns of mostly francophone Quebec. Canada is one of the biggest nations on the planet with an atmosphere that extents from ice to