Ontario Political Culture Essay

Ontario is a province that is near and dear to the nation of Canada, with flourishing aspects in terms of its rich culture, economic prosperity, and home not only to the nation’s capital Ottawa but also to one of the most popular cities in Canada, Toronto. Similarly, the provincial government of Ontario operates in a similar principle to the Federal Government of Canada in terms of the Westminster model and also the First Past the Post system (Single Member Plurality) which refers to the party that wins the majority of seats in the legislature becomes the party in power. However, Ontario sets itself apart from other provinces in two aspects that are related to one other which serve a significant purpose in understanding Ontario’s political

culture. The first aspect is that Ontario has a “disproportionate scale” that reflects its size in terms of its population where it is seen that no other province/territory can match the size of Ontario’s population. Likewise, Ontario’s political culture reflects not only the province’s historical experiences but also the development of its key social, political, economic and cultural institutions. Therefore, this essay will discuss the distinct characteristics, origins, effects, and changes that have been made in regard to Ontario’s political culture.

In the context of Ontario, it is imperative to define the term of political culture.

The term political culture, “refers to a set of widely shared outlooks, beliefs, and sentiments that people hold over some extended period of time and that broadly conditions their behaviour”. Furthermore, the study of a country’s or provinces political culture is something that lasts over a long period of time and changes depending on “values and habits of people’s minds”. Political culture has been changing slowly, but when it does change it is not something that is taken very lightly, it is taken at the extreme. Moreover, political culture is not promoting the policies set forth by the government, however, it represents how well Ontarians are understanding, accepting, assimilating as well as complying with political attitudes that are set out of the province. On the other hand, political ideologies refer to beliefs and views about governments and politics that influence the way people to vote supporting the government for their actions. Thus, it is important to also recognize that government policies along with political attitudes set forth by people coincide with one another as people have chosen their government with the certain policies and issue, in which they believe that the government should focus on, although some of the claims that have been set forth are certainly

unjustified.

Historically, Ontario has been a major partner in forming, framing or working with the Federal Governments and have enjoyed being a considerable influence since the Confederation in 1867.

Furthermore, Ontario, which was the most populous province enjoyed the advantage of being Canada’s “best friend” in all aspects. For example, in Ontario, the Conservative party was the most effective singular political party possessing power except for one six-year interval between 1919-1925 and one nine-year interval between 1934-1943. The longevity of the Conservatives provided the province Ontario with political strength. Moreover, the Conservatives traditionally attracted talented and better candidates into their fold and were considered better organizers than other political parties such as the Liberals or the New Democratic Party. Thus, the Progressive Conservative (PC) party possessed power in Ontario for forty-two years between 1943-1985, which made it the longest in Ontario’s political history even though there were instances of minority governments in 1971 and

1975.

The conception of Upper Canada and the province of Ontario established economic success as being one of the major reasons that brought a political party to power. The prosperity of the province was with the provincial premier who could potentiate new avenues to maintain economic successes. In the early 19th century, Premier Oliver Mowat was the first to improvise the loss of Ontario in wheat agriculture with the idea to promote industries such as specialized crops, horticulture, animal husbandry, food processing technologies, and encouraged efficient modalities. In addition, Oliver Mowat also introduced industrialization, mining, and forestry in Northern Ontario. These industries were administered expertly and efficiently which helped improve, prosper and grow the Ontario’s economy.