General Elections In Canada

Now that you are up to date with currents events I will briefly touch on some strong point of the Canadian democratic system. Citizens in Canada indirectly hold power in a free electoral system and are given better representation and more freedoms for their citizens than other systems of government. The freedom of speech, freedom of political expression, and the freedom of the media allow citizens to vote in favour of their own interest. Democracy in Canada is rooted on the grounds of equal rights; this gives people equality before the law, human rights, free and fair elections and so on. In comparison to the Third World, power is in the hands of the “Big Men”, the police and army are the ones who hold control not the people and where corruption is a norm, Canada may look like a utopia. Another strong point in the Canadian political system is everyone no matter race or sex has the right to vote as long as you are a Canadian citizen over the age of eighteen. Until the 60s/70s parties would make up electoral boundaries this was done to increase the number of votes in that location this is called gerrymander, this was unfair because certain parties had an advantage over others. However, now under the Electoral Boundaries Commissions this problem does not occur and no party has the upper hand over another. Interestingly the

The prime minister has a significant amount of power within the Canadian government. Some of the sources of the prime minister’s powers are the number of seats in the House of Commons he and his party has, his ability to give push/give priority to certain government agendas, and his ability to appoint different governmental positions. For a politician to hold the office of PM his party must hold the majority of the seats in the house; this means that by convention his party must be in solidarity with his decisions, which gives the PM’s the loyal support of his party. Another power of the PM is the ability to put forward government agendas that they believe should be prioritized. The PM also has the ability to appoint people who they believe

Fig. 1. Brian Mulroney’s first year in office (1984), he led the first conservative majority government in 26 years.1

The electoral system in Canada is also known as a “first past the post” system. “First past the post” means the candidate with the highest number of votes wins the congressional seat, whereas the other candidates with a lower number of votes don’t get any representation. There are many cons to this system that will be highlighted throughout this essay. I will argue that the electoral system requires reform due to the discrepancies between the percentage of popular votes and the number of seats won. Canada’s electoral system has many problems and is not seen as fully democratic since it has provided poor representation for both candidates that win and lose. Candidates can win seats with less than 50% of votes, meaning that even if the majority of the nation, or province did not vote for the candidate they still win the election as they consume the highest number of votes among the parties. FPTP allows two people in different ridings to get the same number of votes with the outcome of one winner since the distribution of votes and seats are unequal. The system can also encourage strategic voting such as not voting for whom you think is the best fit but voting for the candidate that seems most likely to win in order to beat candidate you dislike. FPTP leads to an imbalance of power and has the potential for corruption.

Canada’s friendly neighbor to the South, the US, has an electoral system that is composed of 3 separate elections, one of them deciding the head of state. The president elected by the people and he or she is the determining person of the country’s political system. In the US runs like a majority system” In Canada, however, elections are held slightly differently. Citizens vote for a Member of Parliament in a 308-seat house and candidates win not by a majority, unlike in the US, but by a plurality. This means that a candidate can actually win by simply having more votes than the other candidates. This method of representative democracy, in general, does not cause too much controversy in a global scope but has

The issue of electoral reform has become more important than ever in Canada in recent years as the general public has come to realize that our current first-past-the-post, winner-take-all system, formally known as single-member plurality (SMP) has produced majority governments of questionable legitimacy. Of the major democracies in the world, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom are the only countries that still have SMP systems in place. Interestingly enough, there has been enormous political tension and division in the last few years in these countries, culminating with the election results in Canada and the USA this year that polarized both countries. In the last year we have seen

The green party believes that people have the right to do what they want with their own bodies. They believe in safe and legal abortions as well as euthanasia.

The Conservatives were merged from two parties: the Progessive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance. Under the leading of former leader Brian Mulroney, the party went to the right-wing direction who called for lower taxes, deregulated, and privatized government which can generate greater wealth and prosperity of the people. The party values and respects traditions and holds conservative opinions on sensitive topics.

The Liberal party was successful in the past due to its ability to reinvent itself in order to meet the changing circumstances and needs. The ‘proactive’ Liberal was strangely absent in the pre-2011 election campaign and turned themselves into a reactive and passive entity just to defend and respond to the opposition’s unscrupulous campaign of personal attacks and vilification. Liberals were always based firm on their political values and philosophy; however, these vital elements of the party were not seen to being used during the campaign for 2011 election as much as it was seen being caught in the mud-tossing against the Harper Government.

The Liberals reached out of to all Canadians, whereas the Conservatives focused on more particular groups, evident throughout their campaign in Quebec. By trying to impress the Quebec voters with his stand against the niqab, Harper lost votes from those who want the niqab. The ratio of voters for the niqab is much greater as many Canadians value the Charter and going against niqabs would lead to its infringement. The liberals may have went for the niqab and may have unimpressed some Québec voters, however they campaigned with a positive vision that brings Canadians together whereas Harper campaigned by separating Canadians. Along with poor decisions made by Harper’s government, the Senate spending scandal provided the public with doubts about Harper’s credibility because it was he who had chosen the senators. Thus, Harper unknowingly provided reasons for voters to develop distrust, ultimately leading to his defeat in the campaign. As A. Downs (2010) said, “voters evaluate party promises and governmental performance to make their choices of

How can the Canadian government be dominated by one ruler when it has democratic elections with many competing parties? Mellon believes that Canadian elections have low voter turnouts and even lower public interest. Canadian elections are essentially sporadic. Finally, Mellon also believes that prime ministers “…are supported by a growing circle of advisors, pollsters, and spin doctors that help protect their position,” (Hugh 175). The main focus of Mellon’s argument is this idea of a prime-ministerial government.

The Four Political Parties of Canada       In a country as vast and as culturally diverse as Canada, many different political opinions can be found stretched across the country. From the affluent neighbourhoods of West Vancouver to the small fishing towns located on the east coast of Newfoundland, political opinions and affiliations range from the left wing to the right wing. To represent these varying political views, Canada has four official national political parties to choose from: the Liberals (who are currently in power), the Progressive Conservatives, the New Democrats, and the Reform Party. What is particularly interesting is that none of the latter three parties compose Her Majesty's Official Opposition in the House

There is a fundamental problem with the democratic process in Canada. This problem is rooted within our electoral system. However, there is a promising solution to this issue. Canada should adopt the mixed-member proportional representation electoral system (MMP) at the federal level if we wish to see the progression of modern democracy. The failure to do so will result in a stagnant political system that is caught in the past and unable to rise to the contemporary challenges that representative democracies face. If Canada chooses to embrace the MMP electoral system it will reap the benefits of greater proportionality, prevent the centralization of power that is occurring in Parliament and among political parties through an increased

In the western part of Canada, aside from Alberta, usually, politics showcased NDP or CCF on the left side, while some other political party on the right side. The current epitome of the BC Liberal Party accomplishes this role in British Columbia according to BC Politics. This British Columbia political party is neutral federally and it acquires its associates from the center going to the center right. The Social Credit Party of BC suffered several scandals, and plummeted in popularity polls and get replace with NDP. The revival of the Liberal Party caused a split in the moderate/conservative vote, however, and led to a ten-year period of NDP rule in B.C. from 1991 to 2001. Social Credit Party era is ended by NDP in 1991 and NDP hold onto power

The individual is of minimal significance when considering who to vote for in an election. Canadians can vote with confidence because they know politicians' actions will fall in line with the ideology of their respective party, which they have elected to become government.