Canada’s Electoral System Review Ways to influence Government Representative Democracy First Past the Post and Proportional Representation Responsible Government SS 30 Canada's Electoral System January 17, 2019

I. Ways to Influence Gov’t (Review) i. Voting: Most common way for people to influence their gov’t ii. Petition: find friends and sign a paper. iii. Lobby Group: organization interested in having gov’t take certain actions. Can exert constant pressure on Representatives (MPs or MLAs). SS 30 Canada's Electoral System January 17, 2019

iv. Write a letter or call: Alberta 310-4455 v. Protest : peacefully of course. vi. Civil disobedience- breaking the law to get attention. Usually peaceful vii. Terrorism- tends to not work in democracies as there are many ways to achieve goals peacefully- makes it pointless

V. Responsible Government i. No one is above the law ii. The concept of Responsible Government is unique to the Canadian system of government and parliamentary Democracy iii. Responsible government has to do with the relationship b/w the executive branch and the legislative branch iv. In Canada, the executive branch is part of the legislative branch a. PM and Cabinet sit in the HOC SS 30 Canada's Electoral System January 17, 2019

Responsible Government v. How Responsible Government Works: a. Executive introduces a bill (idea) to the legislative branch. b. MPs vote on this bill. In Canada there are three readings before they vote. c. As many MPs in the HOC are the same political party as the PM and the Cabinet, most bills pass. d. A majority government in Canada must have 155 seats of 308. SS 30 Canada's Electoral System January 17, 2019

Responsible Government e. If the bill loses a vote in the HOC, the government must resign and an election be called. SS 30 Canada's Electoral System January 17, 2019

Responsible Government f. THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH IS RESPONSIBLE TO THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH. g. REMOVAL ONLY HAPPENS IN A MINORITY GOVERNMENT vi. Minority Government: has less than half the seats in HOC a. Very unstable because they could be removed right away. b. To avoid this they join with another party and form a coalition government SS 30 Canada's Electoral System January 17, 2019

Responsible Government vii. How removal takes place: a. Take a vote on a bill b. Bill fails to be passed c. A motion of non-confidence is passed d. Government is removed from power: new election SS 30 Canada's Electoral System January 17, 2019

Election Results and Political Parties Conservatives: 143 seats Liberal: 77 seats Bloc Quebecois: 49 seats NDP:37 seats Independent: 2 seats Other Political Parties

http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/File:Canada_Fed_election_2011_Ridings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Canada_Fed_election_2011_Ridings.svg

How about the results? NDP! SS 30 Canadian Democracy January 17, 2019 http://www.sfu.ca/~aheard/elections/results.html NDP! SS 30 Canadian Democracy January 17, 2019