Canadian
|
Its similar, yet different at the same time
We do have elections for the Prime Minister, although our Head of State (equivalent of the President) is the British Crown, represented by the Governor General. Basically, the tasks of Presidency in the US are instead, in Canada, divided between the Prime Minister and the Crown, with the PM and parliament making laws etc. and having the Crown as head of military and such.
While a President in the US has a fixed term of four years, the Government may be challenged by the opposition at any point in time: anyone can call an election anytime they want (unless the war measures act is in effect, but thats another, more brutal story.)
When an election is held, each of the major parties is represented by a candidate in each constituency; for instance, voters in Calgary would not vote for the same person I do, they would vote for the same PARTY (Even if we both voted Conservative, we would be voting for different representatives)
Once elected, it is the MP's job to represent their city.
The 308 members of the Parliament are elected by the people, with each member representing a single city or area in sparsely populated regions.
Each member of parliament serves a certain party. Whichever party "wins" the most cities (or "ridings") is put into power. From that point on, the party is known as the Federal Government until it is ousted from power.
The other parties who lost the election become what is known as the "opposition". Its their job to challenge every bill the government tries to pass, making sure that they don't get above themselves.
Just bear in mind that whatever bills either side tries to pass can easily be vetoed by Britain's representative, the Governor General.
So while in the United States, people may vote for "Republican", "Democrat" or "Bush", "Gore" (thats a little out of date), in Canada you vote for whoever you want to represent you in Parliament, and they happen to have a party allegiance. Trouble is, sometimes when the election is over they switch parties... Which leads to big problems. What if some of the Congressmen suddenly switched sides?
So yes, we DO have democratic elections. But despite that, Canada's government is a unique system held by a few countries in the world of today: the Constitutional Monarchy.
Although it may not be evident to someone who doesn't live in Canada, our leader is, as mentioned, the British monarch (currently the Benevolent Queen Elizabeth II).
The monarchy has been given the metaphore of a "constitutional fire extinguisher". If, say, some Canadian Nazi party gained, by fluke, an overwhelming 99% majority, they would go absolutely crazy.
So if they tried to pass a bill saying "All people with brown hair die NOW!", agents of the British monarchy would step in and say "No, we're not letting that pass into law!"
We've given up on Ben Franklin's wisdom about a society that gives up liberty for security deserves neither and will lose both; in fact, Canada's very existance disproves that.
By giving up the "right" to be truly "free" and "democratic", we get to have a monarch that will stop dumb laws from being passed, or the constitution being changed etc.
Since the Revolution, it has been a great American tradition to attempt to "free the Canadians" from our "oppressive British regime".
Well, I don't know how free you're feeling at the moment, but I'm happy the way things are...
But seriously, I'm probably more free than you are, with the US government tapping your phones, invading your privacy etc.
When was the last time you heard someone really and truly say Canada was a despotism?
Seriously, what do you learn about us? |
News
Travel Topics
Travel Forum Travel Directories
Dictionary 
Travel
Forum 
Canada 
No Spam
Adult 
Gambling
Unfinished
Deception
Plagiarism
Not English
