Democratic Deficit In Canada

In Margaret Adsett’s article on young voters in Canada, she discusses the growing problem of low youth involvement in politics. In the paper, she tries to explain why the number of young voters has gone down from 70 per cent to 40 per cent between 1970 and 2000.

Docherty addresses criticism both internally and externally of the governing party. Internally Docherty suggests that while advances for nonpartisan selection of specific roles, such as the Speaker, have been successful in achieving some neutrality, party discipline and loyalty to the executive remain incredibly strong in Canada making internal dissention both politically and strategically unwise for members of a governing party. Externally of the government, parties and individual MP’s do not receive the same type of research support as well as funding as those which hold particular positions such as Ministers or meet standards set by the Board of Internal Economy. While oppositions can scrutinize in the form of Question Period (QP) or Private Members Bills (PMB) these measures have become more symbolic and theatrically politicized than they have been historically leading to more talk and much less action.

Canada’s friendly neighbor to the South, the US, has an electoral system that is composed of 3 separate elections, one of them deciding the head of state. The president elected by the people and he or she is the determining person of the country’s political system. In the US runs like a majority system” In Canada, however, elections are held slightly differently. Citizens vote for a Member of Parliament in a 308-seat house and candidates win not by a majority, unlike in the US, but by a plurality. This means that a candidate can actually win by simply having more votes than the other candidates. This method of representative democracy, in general, does not cause too much controversy in a global scope but has

Canada is known as a democratic nation, but it is dismaying to say that not everyone is allowed to vote for the person they favour.

The issue of electoral reform has become more important than ever in Canada in recent years as the general public has come to realize that our current first-past-the-post, winner-take-all system, formally known as single-member plurality (SMP) has produced majority governments of questionable legitimacy. Of the major democracies in the world, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom are the only countries that still have SMP systems in place. Interestingly enough, there has been enormous political tension and division in the last few years in these countries, culminating with the election results in Canada and the USA this year that polarized both countries. In the last year we have seen

The solution to this seems quite simple, increase the prime minister’s power during minority governments while ensuring that this increase of power does not infringe unjustly upon the democratic process. One reason in which prime ministerial lack of power is an issue in minority governments rests in the ability for motions of non-confidence to be passed, resulting in the forcing of an election. In federal cases, these votes of no-confidence can easily be asserted in many cases, the most common case being the failure of the federal budget to pass a parliamentary vote in the House of Commons. The issue with this concept of no-confidence, however, as pointed out by Kaare Strom in Minority Government and Majority Rule is addressed with basic questions such as “Why would any party agree to support a government legislatively if it gets no portfolios in exchange,” and “Why the opposition, by definition a majority coalition in parliament, does not depose the government and take the spoils of office for itself?” This concern can be seen in various contemporary examples throughout Canadian political history.

When evaluating the liberal democracy or constitutional monarchy in Canada it is imperative to identify that the Canadian governing system cannot unambiguously be either correct or incorrect. Hence, Canada’s democratic system functions well enough; nonetheless it would further benefit from adopting a Nordic democratic-socialist model as well as adopting a proportional representation electoral system. A Nordic democratic system would benefit the citizens by providing them with universal health care, closely similar wages, free and inexpensive education, public pension plans, and virtually free trade. Second, if Canada is to adopt a proportional representation system the citizens will be better represented. Despite these flaws in the liberal

Since 1867, the parliamentary precinct has been the heart of Canada’s democracy. In parliament, issues of the day are examined, the government is held accountable, and policies and laws are decided upon. After attending a question period and a parliamentary committee meeting, the importance of parliament to Canadian governance became more evident as Canada’s history and future can been seen on Parliament Hill.

“The spirit of democracy cannot be imposed from without. It has to come from within”. (Gandhi) A lawful and fair democracy is one that represents the people, where the will of the people is done not where the government’s will is enforced. Here in Canada we believe a democratic government is well suited for its people but like any other system it has its flaws. This country was a model democracy. Canada’s wealth, respect for legal, human and civil rights almost promises that this country has the potential to uphold a legitimate democracy. Reading headlines today concerning the state of democracy in Canada we can see how our political system is slipping. A democracy should uphold the rights of its people rather than the rights of a

With all this in mind, there is no way to deny the progress made by Canada in addressing the voter turnout issue in these 2015 elections and in order to keep this trend and even improve it, there are so many ways to encourage citizens for Canada to achieve a daily democracy contributing to an healthy political environment. Because of historical and situational factors, Canada had a democratic deficit manifested by discouragement and a lack of participation in political activities from citizens, that had lasted for one decade but now, times have changed and Canada is living a revolution with a higher participation in the 2015 elections that shows the clear will of Canadian citizens to get involved in political activities, act for the change and defend the democracy they cherish.

Lower voter turnout, particularly among young Canadians, has been a consistent feature of the country’s federal elections. Reports, emanating from different sources, have noted the steady decline in voter numbers over the years. The federal election of 2015 was an exception, though. Dorfmann (2015) noted 70% of registered voters exercised their franchise in the last elections which led to a massive victory for Justin Trudeau. Observers opine that this was the most significant turnout in recent times. Though this is indicative of a reversing trend, yet it is comparable as moving back to square one. 70% voter turnout was recorded during the federal elections of 1993, similar to what happened during the last elections (LeDuc & Pammett, 2003).

The decline in voter turnout is mostly awarded to the younger generations. They represent the category of people that participate the least in elections. During the 2011 elections, 38.8% of people aged 18 to 24 voted, which is an augmentation from the 37.8% in the 2008 elections (Barnes, Andre, and Erin Virgint, 2010). After a study done by elections Canada, it was showed that the new generations of voters are less likely to exercise that right today, than they would have some years ago “Only a third of first-time voters today are actually voting, half the rate of a generation ago.”( Ibbitson, John, 2011) Another reason for the turnout decline could be awarded to the lack of interest; Statistics Canada did a poll in which they asked people who had not voted why they had done so, and 28% said

The government in Canada is supposed to be a truly democratically elected government but if only some people are voting, we really cannot call the government of Canada a truly democratically elected government. 6. Groups or people who like neither of the candidates might choose not to bite as they don’t have a favourite in the group. People who have trouble going to the election posts like people with diseases or illness will not vote but that’s not a huge amount if the population. People who are busy on the day of election might choose not to vote as they have something they think is more important to do rather than voting their leader.

Matland and Studler (1996) found that there are larger and more justifiable amounts of female representation in governments that employ a PR electoral system and multi-member districts, as opposed to governments that utilize a FPTP electoral system and single-member districts. Baron and Diermeier (2001) found that Political Parties elected to the government are given a proportion of seats equal to the percentage of votes they receive, in a Parliamentary government with a PR electoral system. These findings are key benefits that a PR system would provide to Political Parties in Canada, which are especially important for smaller parties, such as the Green Party, and women in Canadian Politics since these benefits ensure them better representation in Parliament. In contrast, the FPTP system, an institutional constraint, prevents small parties from gaining governmental power and the diversity of candidates in its single-member districts (Kelly, 2011). Baron and Diermeier (2001) also found that a minority government would be most likely to form in an election under a PR electoral system with list system PR and multi-member districts, which is one change it could have brought to the 2015 election, but there would still be strategic voting in order to support voters' preferred policies. The 2015 federal election saw a high voter turnout, at 68.49 % (Elections Canada, 2015). Blais et al., (2014) found that voter turnout is not higher in PR elections than in FPTP and that voters are not more likely to vote in PR elections when the anticipated reward for voting is higher. This indicates that another change a PR electoral system with list system PR

Canada has been experiencing an increase of support for electoral reform, so much so that in the most recent election in 2015 electoral reform was one of now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s campaign. There is no doubt that a significant part of the Canadian public is interested in seeing electoral reform come to fruition. It is only a matter of determining if reform is the best solution. According to Cross “there are three primary factors working together to create a fertile ground for electoral reform projects… These three factors are disproportionality in the translation of votes into seats, a general democratic malaise, and the relative financial cost of democratic reform in comparison with reforms in other policy fields” (p. 78, 2005).