Elections in Canada

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

A federal election occurs every five years in Canada. In fact, this year the election will be taking place on Monday October 19th 2015. A federal election is held to determine the new prime minister of our country. Currently the prime minister of Canada is Stephen Harper. However, his five years are up, therefore he must compete with other candidates if he wants to keep his position. There are six parties in this election, but the most prominent ones are Conservatives which are represented by Stephen

Farrell, Simon POLI 101 April 8th, 2015 Dr. Allan Craigie Powerful Mass-Media Campaigning in Canada The media has never had the extreme omnipresence it had during the most recent federal elections. For more and more people the media is becoming something habitual, and politicians were among the first to take advantage of this fact. Be it a parties usage of online social platforms, 24-hour news broadcasting stations, or circa the 1800s printed word, there is no doubt the typical citizen feels connected

the news, and has become somewhat of a problem in the world. Accordingly, Kimberley McLeod, in “When Canada Goes Viral: The Canada Party and the Circulation of Political Satire”, has shed light on a youtube video in which Brian Calvert proposed Canada as a potential presidential candidate. The article outlines the issues that Americans have with the current presidential candidates and how Canada would be a beneficial choice. This essay comprehensively demonstrates Canada’s view on the American political

candidate receives results in a larger increase in the number of seats that party's candidate wins. For example, in the 2011 federal election the Conservative Party received 39.62% of the total votes but won 54% of the seats, while the NDP captured 30.63% of the total votes, but received only 33.12% seats. Smaller parties are affected

not a fair representation of a modern democracy. The idea of reformation has been an issue in Canada through out it’s history. Most recently, the idea of an electoral system reformation was a key political goal of the Liberal party in the 2015 election, but was later abandoned by the party, outraging many Liberal voters who saw the reformation as an issue for which they voted for (Liberal Party of Canada 2015). It has become clear that Canadians want change in the way they elect their government.

(Blogger of The Week): Should 16 year olds be able to Vote in Canada? At the age of 16, many Canadian youth can drive a vehicle, be tried and sentenced as an adult in a court of law, have a job and pay taxes, teenagers are just as affected from government policies than the rest of Canada. So the question is why can’t 16 and 17 year olds vote in a federal election. Having voting age lowered to 16 will have greater benefits to Canada as whole than not having them vote at all. Furthermore, besides

been participating less in elections for many years. The highest turnout rate was 79.4% in 1958. The 2011 elections was the first in many years in which Canadians were concerned enough to go vote, 61.4% participated which shows an increase from the 2008 elections in which only 59.1% participated. The decline in voter turnout is mostly awarded to the younger generations. They represent the category of people that participate the least in elections. During the 2011 elections, 38.8% of people aged 18

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

2 Historically, Canadians have had a much larger government per capita, however, currently Canada only spends 1.5% more as a % of GDP than the U.S. However, the U.S. spends more on research and development, social security, health care, education, and the military. 5 Canada is a resource rich country. Although Canada is physically vast, most of the population is located in the Great Lakes region and along the Saint Lawrence River. This is due to the geographic limitations on where people can live