1. Foundations of the Canadian Government

3. Canadian Government
Canada’s government can be described as having four features:
Representative Democracy
Constitutional Monarchy
Federal System
(Multi) Party System

4. Representative Democracy
Demo = people + cracy = power to rule/govern
2 kinds:
Direct = citizens vote in referenda (to make decisions)
Originated in Ancient Greece (everyone involved)
Representative = people vote to choose their leaders, and the leaders make decisions for them.
Governments are accountable to the people.

5. 2011 Election

6. House of Commons seats distribution
* Majority Government

7. 2008 Election

8. 2008 Election
143 77 49 37 2
Conservative
Liberal BQ
NDP I
2006 Election
124
103 51 29 1
Conservative
Liberal BQ
NDP I
Minority government – is a cabinet of a parliamentary
system formed when the governing political party does not have
a majority (155) of the overall seats (308) in the parliament.

9. Voter Turnout at Federal Elections (2008 – 1974)
Year
Voter turnout percentage
2011
61%
2008
59%
2006
64%
2004
60%
2000
1997
67%
1993
70%
1988
75%
1984
1980
69%
1979
1974
71%

10. 1 7 2 3 6 4 5 2008 Election - Match the leader a. Michael Ignatieff
Liberal Party
b. Elizabeth May
Green Party
c. Stephen Harper
Prime Minister (Conservative)
d. Homer J. Simpson
Duff Beer Party of Springfield
e. Christy Clark
B.C. Premier (Liberal)
f. Jack Layton
NDP
g. Gilles Duceppe
Bloc Québécois 1 7 2 3 6 4 5

11. David Johnston Canada’s Governor General
Replaced Michelle Jean as Governor General in September 2010.
Former President of the University of Waterloo
Harvard and Cambridge University graduate
Taught law at Queens University
Author of several books

12. Federal System Three levels of government:
Federal (most power)
Provincial
Municipal
All levels of government can make laws, but the Federal government prevails when the laws are in conflict.
Residual Powers – Decision making not in the 1867 constitution given to the Federal government. (Example – Internet, Air Traffic Control)

13. Constitutional Monarchy
Head of state is Queen Elizabeth II
Monarch’s power is limited by a constitution.
Monarch is a figurehead. (mainly symbolic)
Represented by the Governor General
Country is led by a prime minister, not a president.

14. Queen Elizabeth II

15. Power is divided between levels of government.
Federal System:
Power is divided between levels of government.

16. (Multi) Party System
Party system means that Canada has several political parties.
Is this the same as China?
A political party is a group of people who have common beliefs, ideas and plans about the best way to govern a country.
Political ideology – is based on a common set of beliefs.

17. Party System Canada’s major political parties

18. “First Past the Post”
The candidate who receives the highest number of votes in their riding.
Don’t have to have a majority, just have to beat the other candidates in total vote count
Seen as simple and straightforward, but doesn’t always reflect the views of the population

19. “Proportional Representation”
Another option is proportional representation.
This would mean that each party would get the same number of seats as they would the percentage of popular vote.
The difficulty is keeping local representation in these cases.