Quiz 1 Flashcards
State
Territorial boundaries
institutions that possess public authority
Governments
Must be part of the cabinet
Only a member of cabinet has the authority to decide where money can be spent
“govt back benchers” - members of a provincial legislature assembly who is not a party leader
Legislatures
People who are appointed to the senate
Bicameralism: Lower House (elected) Senate (appointed until 75 yrs old) - Senate doesn't have the power to prevent legislations
Trudeau made a change - committee makes recommendations
Courts
Limits on what parliament can do, limits based on our constitution
- govt cant pass anything that violates the constitution
- Determined by the SCC
- Supreme Court (Appointed, 9 spots) until 75 years old
Police and Armed Forces
Ensuring law and order
Doing what the gov’t tells them to do
Monopoly on legitimate use of power
Only state sanctioned violence is appropriate or justified
Declining Participation
IRPP Study: believe govt doesn't care elected will soon loose touch broken promises money buys influence
Demos
People
Kratien
To rule
Athenian Model
Political freedom
popular input
equality: no one had extra votes
Majority rule: What the majority wants will automatically pass
Concerns about Democracy
Technical difficulties issue complexity (gay rights) Citizen capacity (Ability and time) Citizen interest Tyranny of Majority
Liberal: Fear of State
Tyranny of the Majority
You don’t want the state to have full power over your life
Liberal: Primacy of individual
Group rights vs ind rights, Primary = individual
Liberal: Freedom of individual
values and rights that cannot be intruded on or restricted by the state
Liberal: Equality of opportunity
Everyone should have a basic opportunity, guaranteed level of education or opportunity to participate
should not be limiting
Liberal: Competition
Free market
Liberal democracy
Limited Government
Representative Government
Majority Rule
Limited government
Checks on state
- freedom of expression
- freedom of association
- Tolerance of opposition (limit on what the govt can do)
- Voting guarantees (political rights)
Representative Government
People do not perform govt roles directly
elected by universal vote
Recurring elections
Procedural Fairness
- votes counted fairly
- restrictions on how much money can be spent
Referendum or Plebiscite
Common in municipal politics
Initiative
Citizens do not have force to create a referendum
common in the U.S
Recall
Elect people to office, level of accountability if they want to stay in office, run again
What happens when you do not like the elected?
Sign a petition (6 months to acquire the signatures)
force a bi-election, can only be tried once
Representation: Agency: Trustee
Representative doing what is best for his or her Constituency
Representation: Agency: Delegate
Overwhelming majority Canadians prefer, elect them as their representative, try to do whatever you want me to do
Representation: Agency: Party
Elected to the legislature, and the way that I vote and act is fully consistent with that party takes
Responsible government: Government
Drawn from legislature:
Don’t get to be a part of the govt if you are not part of the legislature
Accountable to legislature:
The Right of the govt to remain in office is dependent on the votes of the legislature
Pressures towards Union: Political restlessness
Widen horizons
Pressures towards Union: British Desire
Wanted to unify, tired of paying our bills)
- Cost of British govt of defending Canada
- British preference for wider union
- Colonial desire to give mother country what it wants
- Wanted to improve relationship with Americans
Pressures towards Union: Economic Decline/hope
Cancellation of reciprocity treaty
allowed for free trade between the two countries, the Americans cancelled
Pressures toward union: Pressures toward union
American threat
- Security threat
- victorious union Army
BNA (British North American Society)
Sympathetic to confederacy
- anything that weakens the US is good for the British
- Breaking up the US into a couple pieces would improve
- Relations troubled (Passports, fear of the US)
Political Instability
Union of Canada East & West not working (Ontario, and Quebec)
- Not able to form lasting conflict (govt’s were rising and falling)
- English and French conflict (seemed to inform every political debate)
- Lord Durham’s solution
- Anglo immigration
- Equal Representation of smaller Ontario
- English minority in Quebec combined w/Ontario to rule
- French and English nation at war with each other and wanted to recommend steps for Canada to get away with that
Internal Canadian Problems
Behaviour of French speaking elite frustrated Durham Plan
- United on all issues related to language
- Support anglo groups most sympathetic
Demographic changes
- Ontario grew larger than Quebec
- Equal representation no longer seemed fair
- Rep by pop (Based on pop size, Quebec pointed out that no one cared when Quebec is the more numerous group)
Grand Coalition: Mandate
Solve Canadian problem by negotiating wider union with Maritimes
- Quebec rouges not in coalition
- weaker group in Quebec
- Goal is to create a wider Canadian state
Charlottetown conference
- Intended to discuss maritime union
- request to attend and start negotiations
- Agree to what would become of the state of Canada (only in 4 days)
Quebec Conference
- 17 days negotiation
- pervasive sense of nationalism
- Desperate for agreement
- could not convince NFL and PEI
- Agreement was between Ontario, Quebec, NS, NB,
- Risk for Maritime/ Atlantic representatives
Confederation Debates: Federal System
Essentially non-negotiable = federal system or nothing
- bottom line for Quebec and Maritimes
- Reluctantly agreed to by MacDonald
Railway construction
Confederation Debates: Senate
More debate than other issues
- Core of agreement (equal representation of the regions)
Confederation Debates: House of commons
Rep by pop
Confederation Debates: Financial Arrangements
- Feds take over debts of the existing colonies possessed
- Fed govt would provide annual grants based on pop
Confederation Achieved
NFL Rejects PEI Rejects (Financial arrangements not good enough, settlement of Land holding issues, patronizing attitude)
Confederation Debate Canada: Pro
-Safety from American Threat
-Solution to ungovernable Canadian situation
-economic advantages
Quebec members who supported it stressed the protection of French Language and culture by creation of provincial govt, that will be all powerful in these matters
Confederation Debate Canada: Opposition
Dorion and Rouges - Federal govt dominant, insufficient protection of French Language
Dunkin - govt misleading the debate
- Senate a sham “pretty nonsensical”
- Cabinet dominance inevitable
- Local govt not sufficiently funded
