The Green Party of Canada, also known as the GPC, is a minor Canadian federal political party that is known for preaching ecological wisdom. Founded in November of 1983 in Ottawa, GPC currently holds one seat in the House of Commons. GPC was highly motivated by observing the West German Green Party, which overcome great odds to win 27 parliamentary seats.2 Over the past several years, GPC has made remarkable strides to advance its political platform and gain a voice in the House of Commons. In 2000, GPC received only 0.8% of the votes and received zero seats in the House. However, GPC heavily improved in the 2004 federal election, winning 4.3% of the votes. After this “electoral breakthrough,” GPC earned a great deal of respect and garnered attention in the mass media.2 More importantly, by receiving 4.3% of the votes, GPC qualified for federal funding. By doing so, GPC received much-needed subsidies that would eventually play a huge role in its emergence in Canadian politics. Four years later in the 2008 federal election, GPC received 6.8% of the votes to ensure that green issues would be discussed in policy agendas of Canadian government.
On the Canadian political spectrum, GPC is in the center but shares many principles and policies with the Liberal party. This classification challenges common belief surrounding the Greens, which typically places them on the left due to their environmental values and support of regressive taxation.1
Of the federal political parties in Canada, GPC has the highest percentage of young adults among its active members.3 Approximately 25% of its members are below the age of 30, while the majority of members are between the ages of 40-65.3 This age distribution is drastically different than...
... middle of paper ...
... Toronto Globe and Mail, September 27, 2013. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/business-education/schulich-leads-canadas-green-wave/article14569739/
Nuttall, Jeremy, “B.C. Green Party Leader Jane Sterk Tweets Resignation,” Toronto Sun, August 13, 2013. http://www.torontosun.com/2013/08/13/bc-green-party-leader-jane-sterk-tweets-resignation
Pétry, François. "The party agenda model: Election programmes and government spending in Canada." Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique 28, no. 1 (1995): 51-84.
Sayers, Anthony M., and Lisa Young. "Election Campaign and Party Financing in Canada." Australian Democratic Audit. Canberra: Australian National University (2004).
Small, Tamara A. "Equal access, unequal success—major and minor Canadian parties on the net." Party Politics 14, no. 1 (2008): 51-70.
This assignment deals with the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and the Australian Liberal Party. It will go explain in depth their origins, motives objectives and achievements.
For a democratic country to thrive, they must have a proper electoral system in producing the party to oversee our government. Since its inception in 1867, Canada has been using the first past the post system during elections to decide their leading party. Although we have been using this system for an extended duration of time, the FPTP system is flawed and should be changed. The goal of this paper is to prove the effectiveness of shifting to more of a proportional system, while also exposing the ineptness of Canada’s current system. With other methods advancing and little change of the first past the post system, this system is becoming predated. A variation of the proportional electoral system is key because it empowers voters, increases voter turnout, and creates a more diverse environment. Canada should adopt a more proportionate electoral system at the federal level if we wish to expand democracy.
There are many more examples of conflicts between Trudeau's thoughts and his actions. For instance, Trudeau has always been uncomfortable with excessive state intervention in the economy. For this reason he has consistently opposed the imposition of price and income controls. But this did not stop him from deciding, in 1975, that a lack of responsibility on the part of business and labour necessitated the introduction of a controls system. Trudeau has spoken of the need for a shift of emphasis in Canadian society from consumption to conservation. And yet, he allowed energy-conservation measures in Canada to fall far behind those of the United States. More than a few times, Trudeau has insisted that it is our moral obligation as Canadians to share our wealth with poorer nations. Nevertheless, he still reduced foreign-aid spending and even put a protective quota on textile imports from developing countries. Trudeau has written about the importance of consensus in government. But again, this did not prevent him, on more than a few occasions, from entirely disregarding the consensus of his cabinet ministers on a given issue, preferring instead to make the decision on his own.
For the MPs in Canada, party discipline is the core for their actions. For them, collective responsibility plays a big part in their agenda. As a party, they are held responsible for any decision that their party makes, and are expected to defend it at any given point of time. For a majority government, party discipline becomes an even more important issue as it is directly related to the term of the Prime Minister (PM). Under the rule of maintaining the confidence of the House, the PM must gain the support of the House in order to stay in his role. This is where high party discipline comes into place. With it, the PM will not have to worry about being dismissed by the Governor General. Should the high party discipline deteriorate and gives away into a low one, such as the one in the States, the government will be in a constant potential risk of collapsing into paralysis. Once the leader of the cabine...
Stevenson, Garth. "Canadian Federalism: The Myth of the Status Quo." Reinventing Canada: Politics of the 21st Century. Ed. M. Janine Brodie and Linda Trimble. Toronto: Prentice Hall, 2003. 204-14. Print.
Goren, Paul. "The Two-Party System." Lecture, POL 4737W, Blegen Hall 425, Minneapolis, January 28, 2010.
Out of all Canadian age groups, the voter turnout for young voters is the most disappointing. In specific today’s youth are less likely to vote, less interested in politics, and know less about politics compared to all other Canadians. This brings about a great deal of concern, as young people are the future of this country, and are expected to uphold the expectations put on them by their older counterparts. Youth are still being affected by the consequences brought about by politics; they still go to school, get jobs, get sick, and so forth, so why is it that they feel indifferent?
The New Democratic Party promises to improve the environmental situation that we are currently living in. Our current environmental situation is very important to maintain, or even make better, because if we continue on this path of pollution and accumulating green house gases, then the Earth's atmosphere will no longer be sustainable and we risk losing our precious planet. The NDP says that they will attempt to get rid of coal-based electricity. "Coal emits more carbon per unit of energy than oil, and 80 percent more than natural gas." (Green Energy) It is a good thing that the NDP are taking steps to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that are omitted into the air to save the environment. The NDP promises to invest in the production of cars with low emission rates and develop mandatory vehicle emission standards that must be followed in Canada. This will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide omitted from cars, which is a big source of pollution in the world. If the vehicle emission standards are mandatory, people will be forced to follow the standards and will have no choice, therefore resulting in l...
Spicer, Keith. 1991. Citizen’s Forum on Canada’s Future: Report to the People and Government of
Furthermore, the issues of representation in the House of Commons are even more evident in terms of the alienation of certain provinces. Western Canada has experienced political alienation due to the dominance and influence of Ontario and Quebec over policy-making as both provinces contain the founding Cultures of Canada (Miljan, 2012, p. 53) Also, the fact that Ontario and Quebec make up more than 60 percent of Canada’s population attracts policymakers to those provinces while marginalizing the interests of westerners (Miljan, 2012, p. 53). Thus, policymakers will favor Ontario and Quebec as these provinces harbor the most ridings as well as the bigger electors’ base. In fact, Western Canada is also underrepresented in both the House of Commons and the Senate when compared to the Maritime provinces as the Maritime provinces are overrepresented compared to their population. Also, many western Canadians are turned off by the federal government as they have been alienated from major political action and discussion due to low representation (Canada and the World Backgrounder, 2002). In other words, Ottawa does not address the needs and hopes of Western Canada
Milner, Henry. First Past the Post? Progress Report on Electoral Reform Initiatives in Canadian Provinces. Ottawa: Institute for Research and Public Policy, 5(9), 2004.
May, E. (2009). Losing Confidence: Power, politics, and the crisis in Canadian democracy. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart.
The election in 1912 brought a new Political Party to the ballot. Americans were used to Democrats and Republicans, but they now had the Bull Moose Party or Progressives. The Progressives were those who “firmly believed that they could change society for the better, and even come close to a state of perfection” (Bowles, M.D., 2011). The Progressives were “committed to the principle of government by a self-controlled democracy expressing its will through representatives of the people,” (Bull Moose Party, 1912). Theodore Roosevelt was and is the most famous of the Progressives and Woodrow Wilson who was a Progressive Democrat, would go head to head for election as President of the United States. Roosevelt had been President of the United States from 1900-1907. Each of them had their strong points and ideals of what needed to be accomplished to build a stronger nation, but what those ideals were and how to go about enacting them was very much different. Even though both were leaders of the Progressive Movement, Roosevelt and Wilson were very different men.
McDougall, John N.. Drifting together: the political economy of Canada-US integration. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2006.
Greenpeace is an independent organization campaigning to ensure a just, peaceful, sustainable environment for future generations. It began in Canada in 1971 and today has a presence in more than 40 countries with 2.4 million supporters worldwide. Greenpeace Australia was founded in 1977 and today we have more than 75,000 supporters.