Fixing Canadian Democracy PDF Download

Author: Fraser Institute (Vancouver, B.C.)
Publisher: The Fraser Institute
ISBN: 088975201X
Category : Canada
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Author: Donald J. Savoie
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0228000416
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Canada's representative democracy is confronting important challenges. At the top of the list is the growing inability of the national government to perform its most important roles: namely mapping out collective actions that resonate in all regions as well as enforcing these measures. Others include Parliament's failure to carry out important responsibilities, an activist judiciary, incessant calls for greater transparency, the media's rapidly changing role, and a federal government bureaucracy that has lost both its way and its standing. Arguing that Canadians must reconsider the origins of their country in order to understand why change is difficult and why they continue to embrace regional identities, Democracy in Canada explains how Canada's national institutions were shaped by British historical experiences, and why there was little effort to bring Canadian realities into the mix. As a result, the scope and size of government and Canadian federalism have taken on new forms largely outside the Constitution. Parliament and now even Cabinet have been pushed aside so that policy makers can design and manage the modern state. This also accounts for the average citizen's belief that national institutions cater to economic elites, to these institutions' own members, and to interest groups at citizens' own expense. A masterwork analysis, Democracy in Canada investigates the forces shaping the workings of Canadian federalism and the country's national political and bureaucratic institutions.

Author: Norm Bazinet
Publisher: Library and Archives Canada
ISBN: 9781777985608
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Federal power in Canada has been concentrated in the office of an unaccountable Prime Minister. This problem developed in two steps. This first step occurred when political parties allowed the party membership to select their leader at a leadership convention. This put the party leader in charge of the caucus rather than the caucus in control of the leader. Originally, the caucus elected the party leader as required under the British Westminster model. To seal this process, Pierre Trudeau modified the Canada Elections Act to require that a political candidate must have their application signed by the party leader. The second step occurred when politicians circumvented the constitutional conventions that form part of the Canadian Constitution. These conventions were adopted from Great Britain and form the governing principles under which Parliament operates. The conventions are unwritten and cannot be enforced in the courts. The British have never allowed this to happen in their country. In addition, our politicians adamantly maintain the first-past-the-post electoral system that yields fake majorities in more than 50% of elections with only 38% of the popular vote. To fix our broken democracy, Canada should adopt electoral reform and concordance democracy. These changes would put governance back under the rules of the Westminster model. Government would become accountable and less confrontational. The country would be more united and everyone's vote would count. These changes can be added to our existing political system without any constitutional amendments. Ideally, an elected Senate (which would require a constitutional amendment) would also bring an additional element of democracy to the table. An implementation procedure is proposed that activists can use to bring these changes forward.

Author: Michael Chong
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
ISBN: 9781771621373
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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For years, the prospect of parliamentary reform has been a hot-button issue in Canada. More and more Canadians find themselves frustrated with how Parliament works (or doesn't) and end up increasingly checked out from politics as a whole, feeling like their voices don't matter to those in power. When he introduced the "Reform Act" bill in 2013, Conservative MP Michael Chong brought the issue of parliamentary reform to the forefront, proposing changes that would empower MPs and hold party leadership accountable to their caucus--and therefore, to all Canadians. Although the changes required for such reforms are modest, the effects they would have on the Canadian democratic process would be revolutionary. In Turning Parliament Inside Out, Chong joins Kennedy Stewart (NDP) and Scott Simms (Liberal) in organizing a collaboration between MPs from all of Canada's major political parties, representing ridings from across the country. They join together in an across-the-aisle effort to make these changes a reality, explaining why reform is so urgently needed and proposing practical, achievable suggestions for making it happen. The contributors of this cross-partisan, cooperative project aimed at increasing citizen control of Canada's political institutions, include: FOREWORDS BY: Ed Broadbent, Preston Manning and Bob Rae NIKI ASHTON is the Member of Parliament for the riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski. First elected in 2008, she is a member of the NDP, the party's Critic for Jobs, Employment and Workforce Development and was a candidate in the 2012 NDP leadership race. MICHAEL CHONG (Editor) has represented the riding of Wellington-Halton Hills since 2004. He served in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Sport and was a contestant in the 2017 Conservative leadership race. MICHAEL COOPER, Conservative Party, was elected to represent the riding of St. Albert-Edmonton in 2015. He is the Official Opposition Deputy Critic for Justice. NATHAN CULLEN is the NDP MP representing Skeena-Bulkley Valley since 2004. He has held various senior portfolios for the NDP including House Leader and Finance Critic and stood as a candidate in the 2012 NDP leadership race. ELIZABETH MAY is the leader of the Green Party of Canada. She became the first Green Party candidate to be elected to the House of Commons in 2011 and represents the riding of Saanich-Gulf Islands. SCOTT SIMMS (Editor)is the Member of Parliament for the Newfoundland and Labrador riding of Coast of Bays-Central-Notre Dame. First elected in 2004, he is a member of the Liberal Party and the current chair of the Standing Committee of Fisheries and Oceans. KENNEDY STEWART (editor) was elected in 2011 and is the NDP MP for Burnaby South. He is currently the NDP Critic for Science and chair of the NDP's British Columbia caucus. ANITA VANDENBELD is a member of the Liberal Party and was elected to represent the riding of Ottawa West-Nepean in 2015. She in a a member of the Standing Committee of the Status of Women and chaired the Special Committee on Pay Equity in 2016.

Author: David Campbell Docherty
Publisher: University of British Columbia Press
ISBN:
Category : Canada
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
Legislatures, and the men and women who serve in them, form the very heart of Canadian democracy. After all, with the very rare exception of nationwide referendums, Canadians speak collectively only when voting for the people who will be representing their interests in Ottawa. The same is true provincially.But how "democratic" are legislative assemblies in Canada? After we elect our representatives, are we comfortable that we are being properly, and democratically, represented? Apparently not -- respect for legislatures and legislators in Canada has steadily declined, and this perception is only aggravated by the current political climate. Legislatures provides a democratic audit of Canada’s provincial and national representative assemblies. It argues that the problem existing in these bodies is not a lack of talent so much as a lack of institutional freedom. Specifically, the problem is largely one of resources and rules. The move to a more multi-party system nationally and the increasing tendency to downsize provincial assemblies has placed additional hurdles in the path to good governance. Docherty uses the series’ criteria of responsiveness, inclusiveness, and participation to evaluate critically the performance of legislatures in Canada, and makes recommendations for legislative reform in Canada. A crucial and timely overview of legislatures, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Canadian politics, as well as politicians and policymakers and anyone interested in the current state of Canadian democracy.

Author: John Ralston Saul
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
ISBN: 0143203215
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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IN THE MIDST OF A WORLDWIDE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISIS, JOHN RALSTON SAUL REVISITS THE ROLE OF GLOBALISM In 1999, Saul began arguing that Globalism was collapsing. In 2005, he laid out this scenario in The Collapse of Globalism. Now Saul has enlarged the book, showing how today's crisis came about and suggesting what to do next. In this new edition, Saul describes the financial crisis as a mere boil to be lanced. The far more serious problem is that the West remains stuck on outdated ideas of growth, wealth creation and trade expansion. Whereas public policy is still dominated by the people who created this crisis, Saul envisions a new sort of wealth creation and growth and advocates new forms of action. Declared a 'prophet' by Time magazine, Saul offers prescient insights into today's global crisis. PRAISE FOR THE COLLAPSE OF GLOBALISM 'Informative, engaging and, above all, bitingly critical . . . A breath of fresh air.' THE GUARDIAN (LONDON) 'A wonderful read, chock full of penetrating insights.' NATIONAL POST

Author: Bruce Little
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442651199
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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In 1993, most Canadians believed that big government deficits were permanent and that the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) was in such deep trouble that younger Canadians would never collect a retirement pension. They believed too that Canada's politicians were incapable of dealing with either problem. Yet by 1998, both were essentially solved. While the deficit battles have been recounted many times, the story of the reform that rescued the CPP has gone almost entirely untold. In Fixing the Future, Bruce Little explains the CPP overhaul and shows why it stands as one of Canada's most significant public policy success stories, in part because it demanded an almost unparalleled degree of federal-provincial co-operation. Providing an overview of the CPP's entire history from its beginning in 1965, Little pulls together published, and new unpublished, material relating to the CPP reform, and interviews over fifty politicians, government officials, and others who were deeply involved in the reforms for their recollections, insights, and observations. A superbly told history of one of Canada's most important public policy issues, Fixing the Future will be of interest to political scientists, historians, economists, and anyone concerned about their retirement.

Author: Kim Richard Nossal
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459736761
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Defence procurement in Canada is a mess, with hundreds of millions of dollars being routinely wasted, despite which the Canadian Armed Forces is woefully underequipped and lacking crucial capacity. Charlie Foxtrot shows why past governments failed so spectacularly to efficiently equip and manage the CAF, and how to change that.

Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464807744
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Governments fail to provide the public goods needed for development when its leaders knowingly and deliberately ignore sound technical advice or are unable to follow it, despite the best of intentions, because of political constraints. This report focuses on two forces—citizen engagement and transparency—that hold the key to solving government failures by shaping how political markets function. Citizens are not only queueing at voting booths, but are also taking to the streets and using diverse media to pressure, sanction and select the leaders who wield power within government, including by entering as contenders for leadership. This political engagement can function in highly nuanced ways within the same formal institutional context and across the political spectrum, from autocracies to democracies. Unhealthy political engagement, when leaders are selected and sanctioned on the basis of their provision of private benefits rather than public goods, gives rise to government failures. The solutions to these failures lie in fostering healthy political engagement within any institutional context, and not in circumventing or suppressing it. Transparency, which is citizen access to publicly available information about the actions of those in government, and the consequences of these actions, can play a crucial role by nourishing political engagement.

Author: Ryan Meili
Publisher: Purich Publishing
ISBN: 1895830672
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Income, education, employment, housing, the wider environment, and social supports; far more than the actions of physicians, nurses, and other health care providers, it is these conditions that make the greatest difference in our health. Drawing on his experiences as a family physician in the inner city of Saskatoon, Mozambique, and rural Saskatchewan, Dr. Ryan Meili uses scholarship and patient stories to explore health determinants and democratic reforms that could create a truly healthy society. By synthesizing diverse ideas into a plan for action based on the lived experiences of practitioners and patients, A Healthy Society breaks important ground in the renewal of politics toward the goal of better lives for all Canadians.