Poli 321 Final Exam

to bring Quebec back into the constitutional family and heal the fracture from the earlier negotiations surrounding the re-patriation of the constitution

Mulroney gathered the 10 premiers to address Quebec's demands (Robert Bourassa) - the aim was to get them to sign a constitutional agreement

to be considered a distinct society within Canada

a constitutional veto over amendments that affected Quebec

increased jurisdiction over questions of immigration

a formal role in supreme court appointments

opt-out compensation for national programs

Quebec would be considered a distinct society

the unanimity formula was expanded to give provinces a veto over a larger number of issues

the provinces were given increased immigration powers

the provinces would have a larger role in supreme court appointments

expanded opt-out provisions for provinces

Trudeau: believed it would be the end of a unified Canada

Fear that the distinct society clause would lead to more decentralized federalism

Fear that the opt-out provision would mean the end of national programs

Many groups were left out of the negotiations (old white men behind closed doors)

Manitoba and Newfoundland didn't agree to the terms, and so it was dead (required unanimous approval to change the amending formula)

Led to the formation of the Bloc Quebecois and the rise of a separatist movement

A response to MEech Lake that was more extensive and ambitious

Involved a Canada Clause (8 characteristics of Canadian society), plans for a triple-e senate (equal, elected, and effective) with strengthened powers, establishment of aboriginal self-government as a third order of government in the constitution, and increased provincial powers

it was submitted to the people as a referendum and was defeated

Similarities: they both proposed major amendments to the constitution that gave the provinces more powers and increased jurisdiction, both wanted to get Quebec back into the constitution

Differences: Meech lake focussed on satisfying Quebec's demands, Charlottetown redefined the relationship between the levels of government in a more broad way

The failure of both accords resulted in an attempt to constrain constitutional debates, and an unwillingness to engage in mega- constitutional politics

The introduction of the clarity act was meant to prevent further movements for sovereignty by requiring a referendum with a clear majority

The canadian party system: emergence of cleavage parties like the Bloc Quebecois and Canada Reform party

An organization that nominates candidates and contests elections - they are organized in some formal way according to rules that persist through time

The national level: made up of the national executive, like people who work under the leaders and the parliamentary party

The local level: constituency associations in local ridings

The individual level: anyone who pays to be a party member

organizing government, shaping public opinion, connecting citizens to government, developing public policy, selecting candidates and leaders, selecting candidates and leaders

a party that tries to articulate the interests of a particular social cleavage (a division in society)

they want to maximize the vote from the segment of society that they represent

they refuse to compromise their interests to expand their appeal

tries to appeal to all categories of voters to accomodate a wide variety of interests

claim to represent many regions and interest groups

they are willing to change and adapt

the emphasis that they put on social cleavages: cleavage parties play them up, and brokerage parties try to minimize them

states that in every party, the internal structure is divided into three levels (the party elite, the middle elite, and the non-elite)

the people at the top and bottom are less devoted to the ideological commitment than the middle

there is a curvilinear disparity where there is an emphasis towards brokerage at the top and bottom

a pattern of cooperation and competition in politics

number of parties, polarization of parties, fragmentation (how big they are), and accessibility (how easy is it to form parties?)

1867-1921: two party system (liberal and conservative) that was based on the principle of local patronage rather than collectivist appeals (fell apart after WWI)

1921-1958: 2.5 party system with the rise of small protest parties, where the big parties served as brokers between the regions (fell apart with the quiet revolution and rise of competitive federalism)

1958-1993: 2.5 party system with a rise in pan-Canadianism, protest parties like the Bloc gained more influence (fell apart with the defeat of the conservative party in 1993)

1993: multi-party system of cleavage and brokerage parties, after the conservatives were less successful than parties with no interest in brokerage politics

domination of a centre by a brokerage party (liberal or conservative)

conservative boom and bust caused shifts in the party system

new parties and policy ideas coming out of Quebec and the western provinces

The method by which voters elect candidates to office, is determined by the number of electoral districts, the number of representatives, and the voting procedure (how people are elected)

divided into 338 electoral districts, each with one representative (single member)

the candidate who wins a plurality of votes (not necessarily a majority) is the winner

provincial population / electoral quotient = initial seat allocation

the senatorial clause: a province cannot have less seats than senate members

the grandfather clause: no province will have less seats than it did in 1985

the representation rule: balances out the other clauses by giving extra seats to provinces with higher populations

creates clear winners and losers: the leading national party and regionally concentrated smaller parties win, while weaker national parties consistently receive less seats than their percentage of the vote

Ex. New Brunswick in 1987 or Atlantic Canada in 2015 where the liberals received all the seats

image: our perception of political parties comes from their seat share instead of their vote share (not always accurate)

strategy: when a party has no hope of winning a riding, they ignore it

public policy: policy concerns of certain areas aren't adequately represented with fewer MPs in those geographical areas

If a riding is won or lost by more than 10%, it can be ignored

generally seen as a sensible strategy in an SMP system

level of attention: people who pay more attention to politics are more likely to vote

age: older people are more likely to vote, and the younger generations are increasingly less likely to vote

affinity: social relations and belonging to a particular social group (university students are more likely to vote)

Education and Income

Related to voter turnout: as a generation gets older it is less likely to vote than the previous generation, and as people get older they are more likely to vote because they are more invested in the political system

the lifecycle effect goes away, the generational effect does not

competitiveness: if it is a close election, more people will vote

electoral system: SMP can make people feel votes are wasted or they need to vote strategically

party system: voting might be lower in a 2 party system where people feel there isn't much difference between the two parties

stability: economic or political crisis can affect turnout in complicated and unpredictable ways

socio-demographic: region, religion, age, ethnicity, social class

core values and beliefs: opinions on political issues

party identification: a person's attachment to a particular party

economic and government performance: the issues raised in a campaign and government performance - what do people think the issues are?

leadership: party leaders can contribute to why a party wins or loses

strategic voting: voting for 2nd choice to avoid the possibility of your last choice being elected

people will often make decisions based on how they feel their life has gone

problem: this often has nothing to do with things the government is involved in

Economic: private ownership of media outlets, importance of advertising, ownership by multinational corporations

Legal: media regulation can affect content

Technological: technology changed the way we respond to the news, shorter attention spans, shorter sentences, emphasis on action and two sided conflict

organizational: the needs of organizations responsible for news gathering and reporting influence the content of the news (media is reliant on organizations)

ideological: the position of journalists can affect the way that stories are presented (most are liberal-left)

Fragmentation: diverse sources of news rather than one major regional or national news source

Shifts between partisan and neutral reporting: shift in journalism towards objectivity, but now the older model is more possible with more sources (political beliefs are related to news sources)

24 hour news cycle: a new strategic environment for reporting (constantly changing and evolving), nothing stays the same for any amount of time

persuasion vs. turnout: parties need to either focus their energy on getting skeptical people to vote for them, or getting potential supporters to the polls

ballot box question: what the party wants you to be thinking about as you go to the polls

highlighting social affinities: competing efforts to define relevant social groups through media representation

framing: the context in which we understand a particular image, event, or idea

Framing is the context in which we understand a particular image, event, or idea - a lens on the social and political world

media framing: about whether a candidates actions will help or hurt their position in the race (not about policy and positions)

partisan framing: contextualizing a party so people identify with them and feel they are cared about

a set of outlooks, beliefs, sentiments that a group of people hold over an extended period of time which conditions their political behaviour

like the climate: it is durable, and changes gradually rather than frequently

ideological: the ideologies, principle, and theories about government that are formally articulated in the intellectual discourse of society

operative: norms, unarticulated assumptions, expectations, and understandings of people about how politics should be conducted, informal norms that are expected, people notice when they are breached, assumptions about how things work

Hartz-Horowitz: theory about fragments, where the immigrant groups brought ideology with them, socialism developed out of liberalism and conservatism - Wiseman extension: looks at waves of immigration

Lipset: formative events that shaped the political community, absence of civil war, link to British monarchy

Nevitte: values approach, political culture is understood through individual experiences

similarities: Lipset and Hartz-Horowitz approach it from a historical perspective with emphasis on historical events, they look at culture as a result of the country as a whole social group

differences: Nevitte's approach is non-historical, it focusses on social environment and individual experience rather than formative events (post-materialist)

Fact: based in demographics, and the existence of ethnic communities in Canada, looks at immigration patters, heritage, and statistics

Act: based in legislation and policy, three key events (B&B commission, multiculturalism policy, and immigration act)

ideal: the normative debates around how we think about multiculturalism (positive vs. negative) - exists on a spectrum

multiculturalism meant a mix of people of european descent for most of history

primarily british heritage until the end of WWII, and then the rise of european peoples

decline in immigrants from europe at the end of the 20th century, and increase in immigrants of asian heritage

it looks at demographic evidence to determine what multiculturalism looks like now and what is has looked like in the past

looks at how government legislation and policy impacts Canadian multiculturalism

the BNB commission (report): in response to the quiet revolution, raised the question of whether canada was bilingual and bicultural or bilingual and multiple cultures; the third force

multiculturalism policy: official statement by the gov't that Canada would be completely multicultural, later entrenched in the constitution (a policy of multiculturalism within a bilingual framework)

immigration policy: a new immigration act that prevent discrimination

a coalition of all the non-english non-french forces in Canada

Paul Yuzyk

a spectrum from assimilation to free play mode

assimilation believes multiculturalism is dependent on acceptance of democratic principles

liberal multicultural mode: rational liberalism believes there is a set of principles that someone must accept (assimilative element) and pluralist position says individuals have a right to choose their own way of life

free play mode: farthest from the assimilative mode and allows for participation in any culture without any assimilative element

the white paper (Trudeau)

the red paper

the RCAP (royal commission on aboriginal people)

the idle no more movement

an assimilative policy proposed on the Indian act that aimed to lift first nations out of poverty and discrimination

involved eliminating the Indian act, privatization of Indian land, elimination of first nations status

proposed integrating aboriginal people into the wider canadian society

a response to the white paper from the aboriginal communities

centred on the idea of citizens plus: aboriginal people should get additional provisions

influenced by the quiet revolution and emergence of anti-colonial nationalist movements

tried to understand what it would mean to implement aboriginal self-government - a plan for self-gov't in the canadian context

identified four touchstones: a new relationship based on equality and respect, self determination by means of self government, economic self sufficiency (reduce dependence on federal gov't), and personal and collective healing

recommended a new order of gov't equal to the existing two

a response to the perceived violation of first nations sovereignty (Bill C45 would have affected waterways in first nations territories) and became a protest movement across the country

wanted the crown to acknowledge responsibility for colonial history, legislation recognition of political authority, jurisdiction over areas of concern, resources to aid the transition to self-gov't, and negotiations on good faith (equal partners)

assimilative vision: total integration into the canadian political community (white paper)

citizens plus vision: same rights and privileges plus additional privileges (red paper)

decolonization vision: requires a sovereign to sovereign relationship, anything else prolongs the colonial relationship (RCAP and idle no more)

the global setting creates conditions that favor specific kinds of behaviour over others and influences the decisions that will be made

foreign governments: their decisions affect canada directly and indirectly (europe banning sale of seal pelts)

international organizations: being a member of different organizations with different aims and objectives (WTO)

international agreements: create the same kinds of opportunities and constraints as membership in IOs

transnational corporations: can create opportunities (economic boosts) or constraints (using mobility to get what they want)

foreign policy: border security and policy (shared border)

economic influence

trade: Canada is population poor and resource rich, economic growth requires trade and the US relations are important to the canadian economy (gov'ts are committed to making sure the relationship is stable over time)