POLI 222 Final Flashcards
Part 3 Autours Only.
S Politics Definition
“activity where public authorities settle rival claims”
Political Claim Definition
“my truth is more important than your truths”
Conservatism Definition
Right
Preservation/conservation of experience/tradition/ social structure
Exception: During COVID the liberals were limiting freedom of rights while socialists were arguing for individual freedoms instead of the collective (i.e., 2022 Trucker’s Convoy/Emergencies Act)
Conservatism Under Grant
Lack/unwillingness to change/institutions
Public order/policing
Maintaining traditional social structures/strong family
Less social welfare
Liberalism Definition
Middle
(values enhanced by the Charter)
Gov job to protect/maximize individual freedom/property
Socialism Definition
Left/NDP
society (collective) > individual (property/market)
Welfare state (egalitarianism) > capitalism
Fragment Theory
Old fragments brought by first settlers to the new world
Immigration determines the political cultures (ideological distribution of a place) by Louis Hartz. Old world first immigrants that explain new world political culture.
Louis Hartz overlooks indg + Britain + French Canada and says…
To be American/English Canadian is to be liberal because the liberal fragment of the old world emigrated to the new world as people immigrated to colonial America to escape religious persecution and gain individualism.
Gad Horowitz says…
Toryism fragment (Francophone Canada bf EU liberal revolution) + liberalist individualism/bourgeois fragment (Anglophone Canada/United States).
Regionalism Definition
The territorialization of politics (physically + politically + history/constitution)
Perpetuated by provincial parties = feds skewed support
QC vs. AB = Constitutional vs. economic alienation
House of Commons
Legislative Branch that brings together elected representative from across Canada to debate issues/make decisions .
Proportional seats but Quebec exception (more than proportional).
Senate
Seats allocated by region.
Deliberative assembly.
Scrutinize legislation as a bill must pass through the senate before becoming a law.
Create a counterbalance representation by population in the House of Commons.
Cabinet
Part of the executive (implement laws). The PM appoints cabinet ministers.
Executive = PM + Ministers
Members of the Cabinet are often the President’s closest confidants.
First Minister’s Conferences
Prov Premiers + PM = intergovernmental politics
Providing a forum for consultation and regulation of federal-provincial relations + equalization payment negotiations
John A. Macdonald
First PM of the Dominion of Canada and a father of the confederation. In 1865 advocated for the federation of the 3 provinces to strengthen the military/economy vs. civil war
Alexander Galt’s Federation Argument
1) Dominion of Canada is stronger than America because our constitution is derived from parliament and not the people
2) Confederation ought to be more centralized where the feds have greater jurisdiction vs. the provs
3) Fed gov more taxing power/money so provs interested in maintaining the fed structure
BNA of 1867
Amended/re-named the Constitution Act of 1867 added to Constitution Act of 1982 (partition) + Charter
Dominion of Canada established = Fed gov + sub-national prov govs (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Quebec)
Upper/Lower CAN broke up (land given back to QC) = Fed gov gives Franco autonomy alongside Anglo
Canadian Federation = Compact of Provinces
UK will amend BNA upon formal resolution of the HofC and Senate (fed NOT prov motion) = good thing for prov autonomy (no fed favoritism)
Bill of Rights
(1960)
Diefenbaker conservative prime minister was interested in individual rights and passed the Bill of Rights (a statute not entrenched in the Constitution) saying the federal government could not discriminate.
Horizontal Fiscal Imbalance
The equalization program is implemented by the fed gov to mitigate fiscal imbalance across the provinces (financial disparity) by funding provs that don’t have enough revenue to provide the same quality of public services at a reasonable tax rate.
equalization payments
(1) reduces prov inequalities
(2) prov money spending/accepting autonomy
(3) constitutionalization of fed’s commitment
(4) prevent migration from poor to rich provs
(5) National unity as QC participant (push back on regionalism)
Limitations:
Large transfers for some provs means smaller transfers for others.
The fed gov can unilaterally amend the formula.
Unconditional transfer in the name of prov autonomy the provs are not compelled to use the money to finance public services.
Part III s.36(1)(2)
Equalization and Regional Disparities (horizontal meaning across provs fiscal imbalance bc at same tax rate diff prov capacities like PEI potato farmers vs. Oil Alberta) - Fiscal capacity is the total revenue that a government can realistically raise given the available tax base
(1) Commitment to the welfare state (equal opp) = reasonable healthcare access/cost
(2) Fed gov make it rain to make sure provinces have enough revenue (ability dependent on $) to provide public services at a reasonable regional tax rate
October 2021: Alberta Referendum on Equalization
Wants to remove s.36(2) [resentful bc QC gets equalization payments and AB doesn’t even if QC has oil but chooses not to develop] even if Jason Kenney is former fed minister for equalization
Alberta’s Sovereignty Act (2022)
Allow province to refuse specific federal laws and policies that violate juridictional rights of Alberta = Constitutional dispute about provincial and federal powers = Federal proposed electricity regulations (problem shared jurisdiction)
Equalization Calculations
OG way:
Fed gov estimate provincial fiscal capacity and calculate based on those estimations a threshold number and then divide into a per/capita number.
Have nots = lower fiscal capacity provinces
The halves (oil provs) = higher fiscal capacity provinces that don’t get equalization payments
Unconditional payment unlike healthcare finance (5 provisions)
New way:
The Alberta/Bill Gates effect = outlier Alberta making the mean highly sensitive (skewed) = the average fiscal capacity is higher so the average fiscal capacity number increases. The average goes up if Alberta does well and the feds have to pay more.
A new formula by throwing out the highest and lowest (skewed outliers, now only average 10/12 provs) so that the federal government only has to pay a lower number to bring up provinces to equal threshold.
Fairness vs. affordability trade-off.
2 Types of Nationalism
Ethnic Nationalism (only natives) = heritage national loyalty
Civic/Ideological Nationalism (native + immigrants) = Values (liberal americans) OR territory define us
Benedict Anderson Nationalism
Nations are imagined political communities that are both limited (exclusionary definition/creating boundaries within the group) and sovereign
Imaginary so not static (unlike Grant lament with his Conservative lament)