One of the paramount purposes of western government is to protect the individual rights of every citizen. This means that each citizen is allowed to lawfully practice their beliefs. That being said it is very difficult to satisfy everyone’s political agendas (nearly impossible on the large scale of national politics), this is where elections come into play. Western government is constructed on the foundation that the masses should choose who represents them in government by voting for who they align with politically. However the electoral process is often disputed because creating a completely impartial system that treats all votes equally and also manages to divide power in a responsible way is extremely difficult. This is where you can see …show more content…
Voting decides who will lead a country, and represent its values and culture to the rest of the world. This is why everyone gets an equal say, or do they? Some countries like Israel actually count each vote as equal through their “proportional representation” electoral system; this means that the number of the seats a party receives in the Knesset is directly linked with how many votes it received. For example in the 2015 election the Zionist union received 19% of the vote and was therefore given 24 seats out of the total 120. In contrast there are countries such as Canada which focus more on electing “main stream” government. Canada uses a system known as “first past the post” in which you vote in a mini-election within your riding (district), and the winner of each riding wins a seat in the HOC, in the end the party with the most seats becomes the government. There are many flaws with this system, for example if you are right-winged but live in a predominantly left-winged riding, your vote doesn’t go towards anything. However more importantly, the vote-to-seat ratio isn’t fair. This was clear in the 2015 election where the Green party received over 600,000 (over 3% of the vote), and yet only received 1 seat (.3% of the seats); and where the liberal party received …show more content…
Canada and Israel both advanced tremendously in certain aspects of government, but both are also greatly lacking in other aspects. Israel and Canada seemed to have progresses in opposite parts of government; Canada has a very “Responsible government”, while Israel has a very “Representative Government”. These are both vital for good governing, and while I have to admire Israel’s electoral system, I believe that the Canadian system (The Westminster Parliamentary System) provides a much more stable government. And although Canada needs to better represent each voter, its system remains true to the hopes and wishes of the average citizen. Which (as I said earlier) is one of the fundamental principles of the Western
Since the turn of the twenty first century, in Canada voter turnout has made a significant and consecutive decline. In the last five federal elections on average only sixty-one per cent of eligible voters voted. If each eligible citizen voted in an election the government would be on par with the primary interests of the people. The easiest way to achieve this objective is by implementing a compulsory voting system. Mandatory voting systems are appealing because all citizens are affected by decisions made by the government, so it makes sense to have all those affected apart of the election process. As a result, the voting results would be more representative of the country and that would lead to an increase of stability and legitimacy.
Canada’s formal political arrangements act in different ways to both concentrate and disperse power. In this concept note I will discuss three key ways which demonstrate that power is concentrated and dispersed: Their ineffective bicameral system, their parliamentary style and their federal system. Canada is bicameral, with the House of Commons and the Senate, but this does not necessarily disperse power as intended. They have a parliamentary system, which further concentrates power.
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
Canada and the United States of America both have a similar yet completely different government system. On the surface it seems like both are simple democratic societies as if they are total carbon copies. With careful analysis, there are definite differences. It is true that there a similarities among the two governments but that doesn’t mean their differences should be ignored. The similarities and differences among the three branches in parliament, the Executive Branch, Legislative Branch and Judicial Branch will be analyzed.
In our system of government we are privileged with the option to take part in the political process that runs the country. It is our right to vote that lets the people influence change in policy and set the guidelines that politicians must follow to be elected representatives. This precious ability, which is most coveted in most non-democratic countries, is taken for granted in our own.
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
Canadians seem to follow in the footsteps of the Americans, but change it to make it better. In, Canada, our system of government is a blend of British and United States practices, with some Canadian additions, made to fit our own particular needs. Of course, British, United States, and Canadian governments all have a lot in common, since both Canada and the United States learned from Britain the all important idea of responsible government, which rest on the rule of law and the consent of people. We, paid close attention of the problems that were raised in the United States federal system and changed it considerably for Canada, to avoid what they we thought were its weakest points and make it fit better with the practices of British
When evaluating either the liberal democracy or constitutional monarchy in Canada it is rudimentary and essential to first recognize that any one given governing structure or system cannot unequivocally be correct or incorrect. Therefore, the present Canadian liberal democratic system functions well; nonetheless, it would further benefit from adopting both the Nordic democratic socialist model and the proportional representation electoral system. The Nordic governing system would benefit the individuals by providing them with parallel wages, universal health care, free or affordable education, public pension plans, welfare, and free trade. Next, if Canada is to adopt the proportional representation electoral system the votes will better represent
American politics is a fairly important thing to the American people, it seems as if it’s not just important to just us but to the people all over the world since most of these countries rely on us. But, Americans are not voting for some reason. On Election Night in 2016, Nearly half of eligible voters in the United States, 231,556,622 people, did not vote in the 2016 presidential election yet many Americans who did not even vote have decided that they are not even happy with our current president, Donald Trump, when they had the ability to change that outcome on November 2016. An issue that at least politicians have noticed is that eligible voters are not voting and they can
Growing up where half of my siblings aren’t born in America and what 's more, one sibling is still not even a citizen reminding me how voting can change everything. Even some of my friends who’s not born here and not a citizen grew up here there whole life with me. It’s terrifying that a vote can send people out of this country to another country where they have no knowledge of, other than being born in their country to get sent back. At first I didn’t care I didn’t think it was much of an issue at all. I was born in America so I didn’t think too much of wouldn’t concern me at all. On top of that, I just assume people are being paranoid that nothing wasn’t going to happen to anyone it is the United States. In my mind the only way they kick you out of America is breaking the law. However, I was mistaken. A few people I knew had been sent away. Voting plays the major part in political history. With reason, voting is subsequently important since it allows us to practice our rights as a Democratic nation. If we don’t vote, then we are allowing others to decide to tell us how to live our life and what’s right for us. Because history and politics in the voting, always had an effect in changing and molding the United States.
Voting equality means that when it is time that a decision on policy be made, each member must have an equal and effective opportunity to vote on a policy, with all votes being considered equal. Along with effective participation, voting equality is essential in constituting a democracy. For voting to be effective and equal, not only do citizens have to have reasonable access to voting locations, but they must also physically turn up and vote, something that does not always happen in practise. For instance, in the 2012 Presidential Election, 123,714,407 eligible citizens voted compared to 131,142,144 votes cast in the 2008 election (McDonald, 2012). That means there was a decrease in voter turnout of 3.4 percentage points from 2008 (61.6%) to 2012 (58.2%) (Andrews et al., 2012), prompting questions as to why 7,427,737 less voters participated. When a mere 58% of your country’s population chooses not to vote in the
The topic I would like to research for this term paper is the election process across cultures. My paper will examine how leaders are elected across cultures, the specific electoral process in that particular culture, the ways the elected leader of a particular culture influences the people, and the perception that people of that culture have about their elected leaders and the electoral process. I want to explore this topic because I have a strong interest in politics and the Presidential election in the United States will occur during the semester which allows me to link a current event and my topic for the term paper.
However, more recently different voting systems have been used by devolved powers throughout the U.K – like the Scottish parliament -- as well as for other votes such as the European Parliament. (Ministry of Justice, 2008, pp. 24-25) These different voting systems are based on proportional representation, a term which characterises various types of electoral system, but share one main idea – the proportion of votes received correlates directly with the amount of seats a party wins. As democracy has become more widespread, other countries within Europe have naturally developed different electoral systems. Particularly, France is one of the few other countries in Europe who practice a very similar type of electoral system as the United Kingdom. The majority of countries in Europe, such as Germany, favour systems with an element of proportional representation.
In a democracy the citizens have the right to choose who represents them in government by having elections. This is what the government use to let the citizens make a decision on the individual or group that are going to represent them in Parliament, the citizens make their vote by choosing from a variety of potential candidates and they will vote for the candidate that they believe will
Some European friend asked me how I am going to vote in the UK-EU referendum. That is a question not only the majority of people in the UK and Europe is asking and contemplating, whether to be in, or to be out of the EU. I told my European friends I really don’t know how I am going to vote. I haven’t yet made up my mind. The politicians don’t know what will happen, and if the people in the UK vote leave the EU neither are they able to predict the outcome. This referendum has split political parties, and has brought political enemies to join forces. One side says vote to stay in, and the other side says, vote to get out. Both sides are spreading fear and scaring people. They keep repeating and spinning the same panic about what might or might not happen.