1. UBC POLI 101 Canadian Politics
The Development of Canada
What is the Canadian Political Community?

2. Context: Size, Population, Geography
Canada is BIG: but why does it matter?
Diverse regional communities with regional attachments
regional patterns of settlement by different groups
Canada is BIG in the sense that it is DIVERSE
Understanding of other regions limited by distance
Economy is regionalized so policy has regional effects
Canada is small: but why does it matter?
USA next door, 10X our population
Only ½% of world pop. (1 in 200 people are Canadian!)
Much ‘uninhabited’ land, controversy over use
Canada is medium-sized: but why does it matter?
Some economies of scale, but not as much as USA
Economy – price-takers and trade-takers  dependency
Foreign policy – we have to ‘fit in’, play ‘honest broker’
Immigration – obligation(?) to accept immigration?

3. Indigenous Peoples, European Settlement
Before European contact, over 50 distinct cultures/languages with well-defined territory. The result of gradual movement from Asia between 20,000 and 1,500 years ago.
Early contact was genuinely between nations, but European values denigrated indigenous, non-Christian cultures.
British Royal Proclamation (1763) recognized land rights
First French, then English settlement pushed westward. Displacement of aboriginal peoples became extensive in the early 1800s.
Massive depopulation, mainly through disease: aboriginal population fell from 500,000 to 140,000
Very uneven coverage of treaties between the Cdn Gov’t and Indian Nations. Most negotiated unfairly.

4. Quebec Act (1774), Constitutional Act (1791), 4/5 Colonies
Quebec Act solidified the French presence in Canada – recognized civil law, Catholic church, signeurial landholding
But NO representative assembly, unlike other colonies
1791, two colonies: Upper & Lower Canada Representative Assemblies, but no power
NO RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and PEI separate colonies
Influx of Loyalists from American colonies
1837 rebellions against lack of responsible, popular gov’t
Lord Durham’s Report (1838):
Assimilation of French population
Re-unification of the Canadas – one assembly
Responsible government (came slowly – 1848)

5. Political Reasons: Union of Canadas = stalemate:
Confederation - Why
Economic Reasons: Britain cancelled preferential access and Americans cancelled reciprocity (free trade), so a need for an ‘intercolonial’ market and therefore an intercolonial railway
Political Reasons: Union of Canadas = stalemate:
Two parties: reformers and conservatives
Two groups: French and English (Lower & Upper)
Military Reasons:
Threat of US annexation after US civil war
Worry about western border (BC gold rush)
Britain didn’t have money to defend Canada

6. British North America (BNA) Act (1867)
Confederation - What
British North America (BNA) Act (1867)
Canada West (Ont.), Canada East (Quebec), Nova Scotia, New Brunswick (PEI & NF rejected it)
Defined governmental structures:
“with a Constitution similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom”
House of Commons & Senate
Judicial system (courts)
“Peace, Order, and Good Government” (POGG)
Powers of taxation
Elections and qualifications of citizenship
BUT… Federal arrangement: national & provincial gov’ts

7. That was then, this is now…
What is political culture? Why is it important?
Political culture is the sum of all values, beliefs, attitudes, and orientations of a society
It is more than “public opinion”
The frame that constrains political discourse and action
The norms and mores of the society
It is what is understood as the values of a society produced through the interaction between political parties, the mass media, civil society, and mass opinion, mediated by a community’s history & self-understanding
Assumptions, often unconscious, that guide political life
It is enduring, stable and cross-generational
It does help us explain national differences
And it helps us predict broad patterns of political outcomes
HOW DOES IT AFFECT OUR POSITION ON KYOTO? PROVINCIAL POSITIONS?
Pol Culture changes through replacement, conversion, new experiences

8. Canadian Political Culture: Historical Basis
Counter-revolutionary society
Anti-democratic/ anti-populist / elitist
Economically dependent (UK, then US)
Reliant on collective provision of well-being: a “Tory Touch”
National projects important to national political & economic development
No “one unified national and cultural tradition” –French/English divide etc.
Patterns of settlement:
French Catholics to Quebec
United Empire Loyalists coming north from American Revolution
Americans in Alberta
working class Brits (to Manit and Sask) with roots in Labour
Southern/Eastern European immigration to Prairies then cities
Later immigration from Caribbean, East Asia, South Asia mostly to big cities
Is any of this still relevant? Differences from the USA due to history?

9. Canadian Political Culture and Value Change
Evidence in Nevitte and Kanji from World Values Survey
Canada’s Values have changed ‘Decline of Deference’ – more challenging of authority
media and public expect more information – justification of means
wider range of goals/values from new roles/experiences
greater acceptance of group politics / and from more diverse groups
Rising Democratic Expectations – expecting more from authority
governments more open – transparency in public service
change in instruments of democracy – direct democracy?
Social Permissiveness – increasing liberalism / libertarianism
liberalizing platforms – shift ‘left’ on social issues (abortion, no intolerant appeals, broader appeals, divorce)
Cosmopolitanism – becoming ‘global citizens’
less self/national-interest in foreign policyl
support for multilateralism? independent foreign policy? anti-protectionism?
Increasing Tolerance / Acceptance of Diversity
programs to reduce intolerance? diversity in representation? Acceptance of limited government / market solutions / meritocracy
privatization = efficiency , less government
global economic liberalization – less acceptance of protectionism
less redistribution? lower support for unions? privatization?

10. Important Facts - Immigration

11. Employment in Canada