Canadian Government Fundamentals

• These are study notes about different forms of government and political ideologies

Political Ideologies

• Left: Favors change and progress.
• Left: Supports social welfare.
• Left: Advocates for gathering taxes from people and distributing them evenly for the welfare of all.
• Left: Focuses on the community.
• Left: Believes society functions better when everyone collaborates.
• Left: Supports public property, such as BC Hydro, schools, and recreation centers.
• Left: Encourages government intervention in political, economic, and societal matters.
• Left: Promotes equality.
• Left: Advocates for the separation of religion and state.
• Right: Values tradition and conservation.
• Right: Promotes "Laissez Faire"/Free Market economics.
• Right: Focuses on the individual.
• Right: Believes everyone should work for themselves.
• Right: Supports private property.
• Right: Opposes government intervention in political, economic, and societal affairs.
• Right: Believes in social hierarchy.
• Right: Integrates religion and state.

Socialism

• Socialism organizes production to directly produce goods and services for their utility.
• From a socialist view, individuals do not live in isolation but live with one another.
• Socialists aims to reduce inequality promoting community rather than promoting isolating public ownership and worker control.
• Socialism is an economic and political system based on collective ownership of the means of production where all legal production and distribution decisions are made together.

Conservatism

• Supports free markets, law and order, limited government.
• Has traditions, individual responsibility.

Fascism

• Typically against trade unions, but supportive of private enterprise
• Advocated for rebirth / personal renewal of freedom nation (Tradition),
• It is hierarchical where everyone is not equal
• It is nationalistic and militaristic

Communism

• Characterized by wealth and property shared amongst everyone.
• There are no class distinctions, and production is government controlled

Forms of Government

• Executive Branch: Manages the country and propose policies and bills. Is headed by the prime minister and the Cabinet, which is responsible for proposing laws.
• Legislative Branch: Researches, discusses, and recommends/passes laws. Composed of the Senate and House of Commons, with Senators chosen by the Prime Minister.
• Judicial Branch: Interprets laws and administers justice. It must be separate from other branches and non-political.
• The Prime Minister suggests laws/policies to the Governor General, who is also the chair of the cabinet.
• Legislative Branch: Consists of the House of Commons (MPs).
• Governor General: Appointed by the king with the advice of the Patronage and Prime Minister. Represents the King in Canada. Has the final say in mobilizing armed forces, and final veto on laws/policies.
• Governor General: Must be bilingual and ensures there is always a Prime Minister.
• Governor General: Gives royal assent to bills passed by the Legislative Branch, reads the throne speech to begin parliament sessions, and presides over swearing-in of prime minister, chief justice, and cabinet ministers.
• Governor General: Position has a salary of CAD 341,776 CAD. Compared to Justin Trudeau (406, 200 CAD)

How a bill becomes a law

• First Reading: The bill is introduced to the House of Commons, printed, and distributed to Members of Parliament and the bill is not debated at this stage.
• Second Reading: The principle and purpose of the bill is debated in the House.
• Committee Stage: A committee examines the bill clause by clause, and may undergo amendments.
• Report Stage: Committee members report back to the House, which reviews amendments to the bill.
• Third Reading: MPs have a final opportunity to review and amend the bill.
• Senate: The bill is sent to the Senate where it follows a similar process. (this stage is skipped if its a provincial bill).
• Royal Assent: The Governor General of Canada gives the bill royal assent, and it becomes law. In a provincial or territorial bill, the Lieutenant-Governor of the province or territory grants royal assent

Provinces vs Territories

• Territories do not control their natural resources, the Federal Government does.
• Territories are created by laws, provinces are formed through the constitution.
• British Columbia has 93 seats available in its Legislative Assembly.
• Elections in British Columbia are held every 4 years.

Provincial vs Federal Government

• They both essentially have separate powers but laws of the province must comply with federal laws.
• Provinces advocate for local interests but sometimes conflicts with national ones.
• Provincial funding partially comes from federal taxes via transfers.
• "Residual powers" fall on the federal government.

Federal vs Provincial (examples)

• Federal: The prime minister, the House of Commons, Members of Parliament (MP), the Senate, the Cabinet, Ministers, and the Governor General.
• Provincial: The Premier, the Legislative Assembly, members of Legislative Assembly (MLA), the Cabinet, Ministers and the Lieutenant Governor.
• Federal Jurisdiction: Criminal Law, Army, Banking System, Postal Service, Foreign Affairs.
• Shared Jurisdiction: Environmental Issues, Health Care, Natural Resources, Agriculture, Immigration.
• Provincial Jurisdiction: Education, Driver's License, Highways.

Indigenous Self-Government

• The Chief works directly with the provincial and federal government on matters of education, resources, and access to land.
• Indigenous Groups have their own powers in their own matters apart from affecting Canadian sovereignty or national interests.
• Indigenous people on reserves also participate in provincial and federal elections.

Elections

• No House of Commons and no legislative assembly shall continue for longer than five years.
• commonly taken place every 4 years unless as a result of war.
• To start an election period, the governor general dissolved parliament.
• Campaign restrictions include limitations on money spent, advertising, and polling.

Information/Campaign Limits

• Public opinion polls are disallowed within 24 hours of an election.
• Campaign spending is proportional to the number of people in ridings.
• Limitations on 3rd party spending, no corporate donations, and personal donations are capped at $1100 a year (tax deductible).

"First-Past-The-Post"

• Electors can cast only one vote.
• The candidate with the most votes in a riding wins.
• First-past-the-post is the system Canada uses for each riding

"Majority VS Minority Government"

• Canada has a total of 338 seats.
• 170 seats are needed for a majority government

"Proportional Representation"

• It is an electoral system that elects multiple representatives in each district in proportion to the number of people.

"STV- Single Transferable Vote"

• There are fewer ridings, but the ridings are expanded and merged while sending 2 people from each riding.
• The votes are ranked and electors have the choice to only vote one.
• The voting process is very long and inefficient due to the votes being counted multiple times resulting in tax increases on citizens.

Ranked Choice Voting

• Electors vote for the candidates they want for the their first, second and third choices.
• The candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated from the election.

Mixed Member Proportional

• A Form of proportional representation.
• Percentages of votes are equivalent to seats.
• Electors vote local and regional candidates
• 1st Vote goes to Local MP, 2nd Vote goes to Regional MP

Lobbying Act in Canada

• All communications with government officials are reported to the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, including monthly reports submitted to OCL and by CEO's.
• Lobbyists cannot have Criminal records, must have left government for more than 5 years, must not offering any form of bribery.
• Penalties range from, fines, and up to 2 years in prison

The Three Principles of Civil Disobedience

• Civil disobedience should not involve violence
• Civil disobedience should be directed against laws that are seriously harmful
• Civil disobedience requires accepting responsibility for one's one's actions, face punishment to show strength

Different Forms of Government

• One should know the different types of government, and how they protect against autocracy and their significance

Representative Democracy

• Representatives are elected by the public.
• The election process is more efficient compared to asking everyone for everything, the public have a say and can fight for their rights.

Constitutional Monarchy

• Representatives are hereditary symbolic head of state. (Representatives include King, Queen, etc.)
• Mainly fulfill representative and civic roles but does not exercise executive or policy-making power. Everyone is subject to the constitution.
• Canada's Monarchy is represented by the Governor General
• Symbolically prevents too much power given to one person

Unwritten Constitution

• It is not written as a single document, but is instead based on customs, precedent, and legal instruments that can be arranged for example
• It has a judicial branch to deal with legal laws
• Has Multi-party elections
• Has Prime minister, and responsible government

Federal system

• Governements have two seperate levels of powers to what they want for their people
• One central government and a regional one

Parliamentary system

• Spreads powers to different groups that form the government
• Prime ministers may be removed from power

PR (original)

• Aims for the house of commons will match the popular vote, every vote counts

STV

• Better representation, few votes wasted
• Voters get more choice and get to rank candidates
• More difficult to understand and may result in more difficult voting

MMP

• The best of both worlds, keeps local representation, but small parties and independents become less likely to be left out.
• The result is that more MPS are created, becoming more complicated and loosing portions of local government

Ranked/Runoff

• Voters must rank choices which may result in more complicated votes.
• Requires voter choices which assures that a candidate has majority support with less votes wasted with local representation.
• Can be hard to understand for voters with difficult vote recounts

Explore the foundations of Canadian government, including written and unwritten components, the amending formula, and the division of powers. Understand the characteristics of parliamentary and federal systems, the role of the judicial branch, and the nature of elections.