Politics Unit 2: Capitalism and Government

Federalism

Multi-level system government

• each lvl has its own leader with powers and responsibilities

  • power is decentralized and spread out

• 3 lvls of power

  • federal, provincial, municipal

• powers outlined in constitution

  • ____ is under threat tho

    • separatism and notwithstanding clause

Benefits of federal and Democratic systems

system allows Canada to maintain a balance of power and hear the will of the people

• Balance of power

  • no one group/person has too much power (division of power in 3 lvls to fend off dictators)

• Popular will

  • when the wishes and demands of the voters are made heard

Canadas Branches of Government

Legislative branch (makes/debates/deletes/changes laws)

Executive Branch (acts on behalf of the country)

Judiciary (interprets laws)

Government roles

PM: Mark Carney

Gov Gen: Mary Simon

Minister of Finance and National Revenue: Francois-Philippe Champagne

Minister of foreign Affairs: Anita Anand

Minister of National Defence: David J. McGuinty

MPs?

Adam Van Koeverden & Kristina Tesser Derksen

what are the 2 ways the PM is held responsible? (Responsible government)

1. Question period: when parliament is in session MPs can question the PM and all questions must be answered

2. Vote of Non-confidence: a major vote which the PM must pass. If they lose=re-election/PM is fired (may be re-elected tho)

The Cabinet

25-40 appointed ministers each responsible for a specific ministry or department of Gov (Federally like Anita Anad Minister of Foreign affairs or David McGuiny Minister of National Defence)

Provincial Cabinet minsiters?

Minister of Education: Paul Calandra

Minister of health/Dept Premier: Sylvia Jones

Minister of Infrastructure: Kinga Surma

Federal legislative branch (Lower house)

House of Commons

• Parliament hill in ottowa

• 343 seats held by MPs who rep their ridings

  • majority vote a party must have 172

Ridings

Geographic area from which residents may elect one rep

Important people in House of commons

Shadow cabinet: party with second most amount of votes that opposes the party in power

Cabinet Minister: in charge of specific areas of government appointed by PM

The Speaker: Responsible for seeing that the house runs smoothly and that all rules are being followed. MPs must speak thru the speaker to speak to another MP

Federal Legislative branch (upper house)

Senate

• created to address concerns of smaller provinces

• 105 senators are appointed by PM and will hold office for life or until 75

• Equal rep from each region (not rep by population)

Supreme court of Canada

• Appeals court

• highest court in Canada

• 9 Judges and Chief justice total appointed by federal gov

  • 3 judges from quebec, 3 from ontatio, 2 from western canada, 1 from atlantic provinces

• no trial the court only reviews decisions made by previous cases (Final decision)

Election process

• 343 ridings

  • denset the population the more ridings there are

• 172 is a majority gov

  • you need 50% votes to pass laws

• Federal elections must be called at least every 5 years

  • called when

    • PM advises GG to dissolve house of commons

    • Gov is defeated in a vote of non confidence by oppositions

Floor crossing

When an elected rep of a party quits their party to join another party

First Past The Post (FPTP)

A system in which whatever candidate receives more votes than any other in a riding wins a seat in gov

the party with the most electoral districts forms government

FPTP Advantages

• Produces strong opposition (both winning and main oppositions)

• Allows voters to support local candidate who represents the geographical area they live in

• Allows individuals to run independently (no political party)

FPTP Disadvantages

• Parties often receive a higher number of seats than their share of popular vote

• excludes minorities from fair representation because parties put their most broadly acceptable candidate in a district to avoid alienating majority of electors

• Leaves large number of wasted votes which do not go towards the election of any candidate (losing candidate?)

Marylin Gladu

conserve to lib floor crosser

• anti-trans, anti- cannabis, anti-immigration etc

• joined libs for power ambition and money

  • libs vs conserves differences are more social than economic

Flaws of Canadian electoral process

• FPTP

  • ranked ballots are the solution bc FPTP is unliked as voter numbers are going down

• PM electing the GG anf the GG having actual power

  • most of the GGs power rests with the PM

• Senate

  • has power but not trusted bc not elected

    • Chosen by PM therefore all power rests with the PM

Unemployment

people who are actively looking for a job but cant find one

Capitalism Spectrum

Laissez-faire(leaving the economy alone)——Command/Planned economy(the opposite of a free market economy)

Capitalism

Economic system in which private individuals or businesses own capital goods

Mixed Capitalist system (most countries have this)

• some government regulation of business and ownership of select industries

Benefits of capitalism

• average person is able to gain wealth, allowing greater quality of life and increased freedom and power (inclusion)

• Encourages innovation = increase in tech and increased education

• allows efficient use of resources and production

• economic flexibility and progress

• encourages trade between countries=peace

• encourages non-discriminatory practices

Capitalism drawbacks

• drives climate change and industrialization (resistance of regs=more pollution but better for business)

• the root of capitalism is wealth

  • what else do we value that isnt part of capitalism?

• Capitalism is neutral

  • its the peoples job to care bc this system only cares about wealth

GDP (gross domestic product)

• measures the economy and economic progress

• only measures transactions of money and resources

  • relying on GDP entirely results in ignoring

    • the environment, social indicators, impact of education, volunteerism, scientific progress

Inequality in Capitalism

Historically

• ppl create businesses to get rich and need employees

• success=need for employees=ppl getting paid (a way to redistribute the wealth)

Today

• tech is taking jobs away from people (Automation)

• or creates new jobs just not high paying

Rich are getting richer without needing to give jobs and without sharing the wealth meaningfully

Solution to rich getting richer

Taxing the rich will redistribute the wealth bc their money will have influence/meaning/purpose

Purchasing power

amount of things your money can buy

The philosophy of the job market and employers

• better be greatful to have job

• increase unemployment to make it difficult to have a job

  • treat them like garbage

• Puts money over people

Underemployment

your degree means nothinggg

Horse vid :3

___ believed they’d always have jobs but mechanical ___ (aka cars) replaced them which will happen to humans

workers always lose and economics always wins bc of efficiency

__ are unemployable thru no fault of their own, Automation made them unemployed