AMERICAN-CANADIAN POLITICS

American-Canadian Politics

Abstract

It is a comparison that needs to look at the different histories, politics, and policies of the two countries. I think many of the writers here looked at their own lives and knowledge of the two countries without really understanding the oppressiveness and fear that has always existed in America dating back to slavery. America had slaves and although Canada has a horrific record with its treatment of its native population, it was not created on the backs of slaves. America has always been a nation that values money over humanity. Not that Canadians don't do it also with less than 1% of the land being protected, but America is the world leader at screwing over its people and screwing over the rest of the world's people. It's the system of capitalism that uses fear and manipulation to convince some people that they are better than others.

Table of Contents

Introduction4

Discussion4

Historical Perspective6

Political Cultural Development7

Traditional Effect7

Authoritative Differences9

Governmental Differences9

Conclusion10

American-Canadian Politics

Introduction

In trying to make sense of the daily jostling for position in the Canadian Parliament, it helps to understand the party system itself. Only parties with Conservative or Liberal in their name have held power, but modern Canada is not a two-party system (Statistics Canada, 2006). Technically we have a multi-party system. In reality Canada is a two-plus-one political party system, where the two main contenders face third parties, such as the CCF/NDP, Social Credit, Reform, Green or Bloc (Rosenthal, 2000).

Canada's political parties are usually described as brokers. They bring together diverse interests, and engineer compromises that allow policies to be adopted, and positions to be taken. Third parties are something else again. They may aspire to power but really represent change, and the hope of betterment, and want to rally the forces of change (however defined), to create a better world (Mansbridge, 1999).

Brokerage parties are centrist in policy orientation, taking positions that bridge political divides. The Liberal Party of Canada is the classic example. It has crossed the French language/English language division, and the owner/worker one as well.

Since the French-speaking population of Quebec began electing the Bloc in 1993, the Liberal would-be-brokers have lost a main client (Statistics Canada, 2006).

Discussion

Many people, not just Liberals, wish the Bloc would just go away and predict its demise. But until a party capable of rallying Francophone Quebec appears, this is wishful speculation.

Without factoring in Quebec, it is easy to think of Canada as a three-party system: two main parties plus the NDP as the innovator, the source of policy ideas. But the NDP itself does not necessarily buy into this account (Mansbridge, 1999). There is a current within the party that sees Liberal weakness as an opportunity to take a more broad-based party of the centre left to confront the right wing Conservatives.

In this scenario, the NDP would replace the Liberals as the dominant party (Mansbridge, 1999). Setting aside Quebec can only be done at great cost to understanding elections and party politics. But another reality for the NDP is that by its ...