Portal:Canadian politics
The politics of Canada function within a framework of constitutional monarchy and a federal system of parliamentary government with strong democratic traditions. Many of the country's legislative practices derive from the unwritten conventions of and precedents set by the United Kingdom's Westminster Parliament. However, Canada has evolved variations: party discipline in Canada is stronger than in the United Kingdom, and more parliamentary votes are considered motions of confidence, which tends to diminish the role of non-Cabinet Members of Parliament (MPs). Such members, in the government caucus, and junior or lower-profile members of opposition caucuses, are known as backbenchers. Backbenchers can, however, exert their influence by sitting in parliamentary committees, like the Public Accounts Committee or the National Defence Committee. Canada's governmental structure was originally established by the British parliament through the British North America Act (now known as the Constitution Act, 1867), but the federal model and division of powers were devised by Canadian politicians. Particularly after World War I, citizens of the self-governing Dominions, such as Canada, began to develop a strong sense of identity, and, in the Balfour Declaration of 1926, the British government expressed its intent to grant full autonomy to these regions. Thus in 1931, the British Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster, giving legal recognition to the autonomy of Canada and other Dominions. Following this, Canadian politicians were unable to obtain consensus on a process for amending the constitution until 1982, meaning amendments to Canada's constitution continued to require the approval of the British parliament until that date. Similarly, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in Britain continued to make the final decision on criminal appeals until 1933 and on civil appeals until 1949. Selected article - As per the Constitution Act, 1867, Canada is a constitutional monarchy, wherein the role of the reigning sovereign is both legal and practical. The Crown is regarded as a corporation, with the monarch, vested as she is with all powers of state, at the centre of a construct in which the power of the whole is shared by multiple institutions of government acting under the sovereign's authority; the Crown has thus been described as the underlying principle of Canada's institutional unity, with the executive formally called the Queen-in-Council, the legislature the Queen-in-Parliament, and the courts as the Queen on the Bench. Selected political party -
Gilles Duceppe, the Leader of the Bloc Québécois.
The Bloc Québécois is supported by a wide range of voters in Quebec, from large sections of organised labour to more conservative rural voters. Members and supporters are known as "Bloquistes" [blɔˈkist] (Bloquists). English-speaking Canadians commonly refer to the BQ as "the Bloc". The party is sometimes known as the "BQ" in the English-speaking media. The Bloc throwout the 2000s was the third largest party in the Canadian House of Commons. It has strong informal ties to the Parti Québécois (PQ, whose members are known as "Péquistes"), the provincial party that advocates for the separation of Quebec from Canada and its independence, but the two are not linked organizationally. Selected political picture - Did you know? -
Selected biography - In the 2011 election, Layton led the NDP to the most successful result in the party's history winning 103 seats, enough to form Canada's Official Opposition. Federal support for Layton and the NDP in the election was unprecedented, especially in the province of Quebec where the party won 59 out of 75 seats. On May 18, 2011, Layton was sworn in as Leader of the Opposition in the 41st Canadian Parliament. Layton died on August 22, 2011, aged 61, after suffering from an undisclosed type of cancer. He was married to fellow MP Olivia Chow.
Selected election -
The Canadian federal election of 1911 was held on September 21 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 12th Parliament of Canada. It brought an end to fifteen years of government by the Liberal Party of Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier. The election was fought over the issues of free trade with the United States, and the creation of a Canadian navy. The Conservatives formed a majority government under Robert Borden.
The Liberal government was caught up in a debate over the naval arms race between the British Empire and Germany. Laurier attempted a compromise by starting up the Canadian Navy, but this failed to appease either the French and English Canadians; the former who refused giving any aid, while the latter suggested sending money directly to Britain. After the election, the Conservatives drew up a bill for naval contributions to the British, but it was held up by a lengthy Liberal filibuster before being passed by invoking closure, then it was struck down by the Liberal-controlled Senate. Many English-Canadians in Alberta, and the Maritimes felt that Laurier was abandoning Canada's traditional links to the United Kingdom. On the other side, Quebec nationalist Henri Bourassa, having earlier quit the Liberal Party over what he considered the government's pro-British policies, campaigned against Laurier in that province. Ironically, Bourassa's attacks on Laurier in Quebec aided in the election of the Conservatives, who held more staunchly Imperialist policies than the Liberals.
General
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- ↑ Some political scientists hold the view that the BQ is implicitly non-sovereigntist or non-separatist, given that BQ MPs, in assuming federal seats in the Canadian House of Commons, are implicitly placing their political imprimatur on "Quebec within Canada"; other political scientists, citing the party's prerogative to utilize, tactically, federal parliamentary rules to at least delay the business of Canadian federal government or else force the Canadian federal government to accept the BQ's pursuit of separate Quebec-centric policies, adhere to the theory that the BQ can exist at the federal level and at the same time be truly sovereigntist--and even separatist. The fact that the BQ communicates publicly in the English language seems to substantiate the former theory. Some legal theorists hold that if perhaps the BQ does implicitly recognize the legal reality that the Supreme Court of Canada, in Reference re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 S.C.R. 217, has ruled unilateral Quebec secession unlawful under Canadian law and international law, how the BQ plans to achieve bilateral Canada-Quebec agreement to yet another referendum on a sovereignty/secession question remains, at most, unclear at this time.
