It occurred to me during one of my many ponderings that politics is really very boring. Never one to have a thought and not follow through with it, I began to think of why politics are boring. Politics, after all, touch every single Canadian and should be something that all Canadians are interested in. A Housing or employment Bill brought through the legislature can affect whether you can afford the next house, or even end up homeless, or take you off the street and into your first home in 10 years. Taxes rise more often than they fall, but it’s the government that decides the trajectory and velocity of taxes. No one can escape the grasp of the government whether that government is your town, province, or country. I find things boring if I don’t understand them, so in my pondering I concluded that politics are boring to youth because we don’t understand them! I lay no claim to fully understanding them myself, but I do pay attention to how governments are run. We’ll start with the basics.
Municipal Government-These are the people who run the city or town you live in. They consist of the Mayor and his councilors. The Councilors represent a different area of your city. Elections are typically held every three years and decide who the next Mayor, councilors, and trustees are. Trustees are people who are on the school board and make decisions on school related stuff.
Provincial Government-These are the people who run your province. Provincial elections occur about every 4-5 years, the head honcho is the premier. Ours, at the moment, is Ed Stelmach. Below the premier are the MLA’s, or Members of the Legistlative Assembly who represent a section of the province.
Federal Government-These people run the country, they decide pretty much everything. They are so large that they have departments that they appoint control over (e.i the Department of Oceans and Fisheries deal with, well, oceans and fisheries). They decide how much funding each Province receives and even whether we go to war, or whatever the Canadian equivalent to war is.
Democracy-Canada is a democracy. We are free to choose whom we appoint to the three levels of government, the process of us choosing our government is called voting. Voting is usually held within 10 or so blocks of where we live at a school or community hall. We have to be 18 or older to vote.
Voting-This is something that all Canadians, over the age of 18, have the right to do. It is a powerful way to show the government who we want to represent us, to be our advocates when it comes to decide the direction our country will go. We vote for MP’s, or Members of Parliament. Each MP belongs to a political party, such as the Tories (Conservatives), Liberal, New Democratic Party, the Green Party and so on. The important thing is that we mark the ballot with an X, and an X only.
What determines which party is in power you ask?
The House of Commons is where all the politicians banter to each other. The power of a political party lies in the House of Commons and how many seats each party holds. There are 308 seats in the House of Commons, one seat per riding in Canada so the more seats a party gains control of, the more power that party has to make decisions “for the people”.
Minority Governments occur when a single party is elected to 154 seats or less. They can’t make decisions without the consent of the rest of the seat’s approval but it’s the minority government that is in charge. Canada, for the last couple of elections, has had a minority government headed by the Conservatives. Minority governments must work hard to maintain their power lest they lose confidence of the rest of the leaders. In that case, the minority government loses control and another election is held. The minority party is still in power, but they are at threat of losing that power pending the election.
Majority Governments occur when a single party is elected to more than half the seats of the House. They are free to pass legislations and are better able to hold the confidence of the rest of the leaders than a minority government.
Opposition party is a term that describes the political party that not in power but is still elected to the House. Their role is to oppose government in power, criticize their decisions, offer alternative methods, and to inform us of what is happening in government.
Coalition Governments occur when there is a minority government that loses confidence of their peers. The opposition party’s band together to form one party and threaten to take power. Often, when a minority government is in place, their opposition has the potential to be a majority government if they were one party.
The Major Political Parties of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada headed by Stephan Harper is currently in power but has lost confidence of their peers. http://www.conservative.ca/party/founding_principles/
The Liberal Party of Canada is headed by Michael Ignatieff and is the official opposition party and are vying to be elected back into power in the upcoming election. http://www.liberal.ca/party/history/
The New Democratic Party is headed by Jack Layton and is the official opposition part and are vying to be elected into power in the upcoming election. http://www.ndp.ca/
The Bloc Quebecois is headed by Gilles Duceppe and is the official opposition party and are vying to be elected to power in the upcoming election. http://www.blocquebecois.org/accueil.aspx
There are many other political parties that hope to make it into parliament but are not represented on the ballot come election day. These include, in alphabetical order, Animal Alliance Environmental Voters Party of Canada, Canadian Action Party, Christian Heritage Party of Canada, Communist Party of Canada, First Peoples National Party of Canada, Green Party of Canada, Libertarian Party of Canada, Marijuana Party, Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada, People’s Political Power Party of Canada, Pirate Party of Canada, Progressive Canadian Party, Rhinoceros Party, United Party of Canada, and the Western Block Party. For more information on any of these parties, go to http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=pol&dir=par&document=index&lang=e
So I hope that politics are a little less confusing with this blog, and I hope to see you all at the polls on MAY 2nd 2011!
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