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Government and Politics
Canada The politics of Canada function within a framework of constitutional monarchy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions.
Unit 16
Constitution of Canada• Canada is a constitutional monarchy.• The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law
in Canada; the country's constitution is an amalgam of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. It outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens.
amalgam: [ ə'mælgəm ]
n. 混合物
Official Head of State • Canada is a monarchy. • The official head of state is the Queen.• Governor General represents the Queen. • When heads of state visit Canada, they will first be
greeted by the Governor-General, before being welcomed by the Prime Minister.
Michaëlle Jean—the first black Canadian Governor General
Stephen Harper
Key TopicsKey Topics• Historical background
• Structures of government
• The Federal Political Scene
• Canadian Prime Ministers
Historical Background• Two Major Foreign Influences
Legacy as a former colony of Britain
Powerful influence from the USA
Founding PrinciplesFounding Principles
• Peace, Order, and Good Government
• Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Structures of Government
• Westminster Style Democracy
• The Queen & the Governor General
• Federal Government
• The Parliament
Federal Government• Canada is a federation.• The government may refer to the federal,
provincial or municipal government. • Canada was the first political community to
combine federalism with a British system of government, a model which was later applied to other areas in the British Commonwealth.
Flexile Federal System (federal, provincial and shared jurisdictions)
Examples of distribution of powers
Federal Provincial Shared- Foreign affairs - Education - Taxation- National defence - Health - Commerce- Air transportation - Social services - Justice- Immigration - Job training - Environment
Each order of government is free to enact language legislation in its areas of responsibility.
The Parliament• The Federal Government or Parliament of Canada is made
up of three elements: the Sovereign represented by the Governor General an appointed Upper House called the Senate an elected Lower House called the House of Commons• The consent of all three elements is needed for the
passage of legislation.
Canada UK
Westminster Style Democracy
Parliamentary democracy constitutional monarchy
The Head of State
The Queen
Governor-General
The Queen
Government Federation
Federal Government
Provincial Government
Parliament House of commons
The senate
House of Lords
House of Commons
Main Parties
The Liberal Party
The Progressive Conservatives
The Bloc Quebecois
The Reform Party
The Conservative Party
The Labor Party
The Liberal Democrats
NZ Ireland US Australia
Representative democracy
Parliamentary democracy
liberal democratic
Prime minister, deputy prime minister
Governor-General
The Dail and the senate
the House of Representatives & the Senate
ALP
Coalition
Nationalism and Quebec
• Quebec is a province in the central part of Canada.
• It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population, and the only one whose sole official language is French.
• Quebec Question is one of the problems that Canada has been faced with long since. Quebec Question is the Quebec sovereignty movement which is a political movement aimed at attaining independent statehood.
Nationalism• Nationalism plays a large role in the politics of
the province, with all three major provincial political parties seeking greater autonomy and recognition of the Quebec people as a nation.
• Sovereigntist governments held referendums on independence in 1980 and 1995, and the Canadian House of Commons passed a symbolic motion recognizing the "Québécois as a nation within Canada".
Nationalism and Quebec• English Canada and Quebec both under threat
• English Canada worried about Americanization• Quebec worried about linguistic (and hence cultural)
assimilation
• Accommodation constrained by elements of Canadian political culture
• strong federal government• equality of the provinces• equality of linguistic rights• inviolability of individual rights