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Author: Norm Bazinet Publisher: Library and Archives Canada ISBN: 9781777985608 Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
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: Norm Bazinet Publisher: Library and Archives Canada ISBN: 9781777985608 Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
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: Elisabeth Gidengil Publisher: UBC Press ISBN: 0774828285 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 320
Book Description
Canada is often held up as an example of a healthy democracy. However, the Canadian public is less enthusiastic about the way our democracy works. This first-of-a-kind book approaches the “democratic deficit” from the perspective of everyday Canadians and assesses the performance of Parliament and the media in light of their perceptions and expectations. In doing so, a number of chapters highlight the disjuncture between perceptions and performance. Canadian Democracy from the Ground Up is essential for anyone who would like to learn how to build a better democracy – one that meets the expectations of the Canadian public.
Author: Donald J. Savoie Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP ISBN: 0228000416 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 432
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: Steven Levitsky Publisher: Crown ISBN: 1524762946 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 321
Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Comprehensive, enlightening, and terrifyingly timely.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice) WINNER OF THE GOLDSMITH BOOK PRIZE • SHORTLISTED FOR THE LIONEL GELBER PRIZE • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post • Time • Foreign Affairs • WBUR • Paste Donald Trump’s presidency has raised a question that many of us never thought we’d be asking: Is our democracy in danger? Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt have spent more than twenty years studying the breakdown of democracies in Europe and Latin America, and they believe the answer is yes. Democracy no longer ends with a bang—in a revolution or military coup—but with a whimper: the slow, steady weakening of critical institutions, such as the judiciary and the press, and the gradual erosion of long-standing political norms. The good news is that there are several exit ramps on the road to authoritarianism. The bad news is that, by electing Trump, we have already passed the first one. Drawing on decades of research and a wide range of historical and global examples, from 1930s Europe to contemporary Hungary, Turkey, and Venezuela, to the American South during Jim Crow, Levitsky and Ziblatt show how democracies die—and how ours can be saved. Praise for How Democracies Die “What we desperately need is a sober, dispassionate look at the current state of affairs. Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, two of the most respected scholars in the field of democracy studies, offer just that.”—The Washington Post “Where Levitsky and Ziblatt make their mark is in weaving together political science and historical analysis of both domestic and international democratic crises; in doing so, they expand the conversation beyond Trump and before him, to other countries and to the deep structure of American democracy and politics.”—Ezra Klein, Vox “If you only read one book for the rest of the year, read How Democracies Die. . . .This is not a book for just Democrats or Republicans. It is a book for all Americans. It is nonpartisan. It is fact based. It is deeply rooted in history. . . . The best commentary on our politics, no contest.”—Michael Morrell, former Acting Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (via Twitter) “A smart and deeply informed book about the ways in which democracy is being undermined in dozens of countries around the world, and in ways that are perfectly legal.”—Fareed Zakaria, CNN
Author: Lee Drutman Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: 0190913851 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 369
Book Description
American democracy is in deep crisis. But what do we do about it? That depends on how we understand the current threat.In Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop, Lee Drutman argues that we now have, for the first time in American history, a genuine two-party system, with two fully-sorted, truly national parties, divided over the character of the nation. And it's a disaster. It's a party system fundamentally at odds withour anti-majoritarian, compromise-oriented governing institutions. It threatens the very foundations of fairness and shared values on which our democracy depends.Deftly weaving together history, democratic theory, and cutting-edge political science research, Drutman tells the story of how American politics became so toxic and why the country is now trapped in a doom loop of escalating two-party warfare from which there is only one escape: increase the numberof parties through electoral reform. As he shows, American politics was once stable because the two parties held within them multiple factions, which made it possible to assemble flexible majorities and kept the climate of political combat from overheating. But as conservative Southern Democrats andliberal Northeastern Republicans disappeared, partisan conflict flattened and pulled apart. Once the parties became fully nationalized - a long-germinating process that culminated in 2010 - toxic partisanship took over completely. With the two parties divided over competing visions of nationalidentity, Democrats and Republicans no longer see each other as opponents, but as enemies. And the more the conflict escalates, the shakier our democracy feels.Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop makes a compelling case for large scale electoral reform - importantly, reform not requiring a constitutional amendment - that would give America more parties, making American democracy more representative, more responsive, and ultimately more stable.
Author: Dale Smith Publisher: Dundurn ISBN: 1459738276 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 152
Book Description
The Hill Times: Best Books of 2017 What if it is not our political system that is broken, but our understanding of it? Everybody thinks that it’s the system that’s broken in politics; but what if it’s not the system that’s broken but rather our understanding of it? What if everyone’s proposals to make the system “more democratic” only wind up making things worse, and weaken our systems of accountability so much as to make them meaningless? What if it’s our own ignorance that is killing democracy in this country? Dale Smith looks at the critical gaps in civic literacy that have become endemic within Canadian political culture, wading through buzzwords and meaningless proposals to suggest real solutions. Designed for the lay reader, The Unbroken Machine seeks to explore our lack of civic literacy and show how our system of democracy should work — if only we were to engage with it the way it was meant to be.
Author: Daniel G. Newman Publisher: First Second ISBN: 1250796415 Category : Comics & Graphic Novels Languages : en Pages : 288
Book Description
An intriguing and accessible nonfiction graphic novel about the role wealth and influence play in American democracy. Despite our immense political divisions, Americans are nearly united in our belief that something is wrong with our government: It works for the wealthy and powerful, but not for anyone else. Unrig exposes the twisted roots of our broken democracy and highlights the heroic efforts of those unrigging the system to return power to We the People. This stirring nonfiction graphic novel by democracy reform leader Daniel G. Newman and artist George O’Connor takes readers behind the scenes—from the sweaty cubicles where senators dial corporate CEOs for dollars, to lavish retreats where billionaires boost their favored candidates, to the map rooms where lawmakers scheme to handpick their voters. Unrig also highlights surprising solutions that limit the influence of big money and redraw the lines of political power. If you're overwhelmed by negative news and despairing for the direction of our country, Unrig is a tonic that will restore your faith and reveal the path forward to fix our broken democracy.
Author: Krist Novoselic Publisher: Akashic Books ISBN: 1617752231 Category : Music Languages : en Pages : 60
Book Description
The Nirvana bassist “offers specific platforms for electoral reform . . . as well as charming anecdotes about rock ‘n’ roll as a pursuit of happiness” (Sarah Vowell, The New York Times Book Review). A memoir of both music and politics, Of Grunge and Government tells Krist Novoselic’s story of how during his years with Kurt Cobain and Nirvana, the band made a point of playing benefits—the Rock for Choice show, a concert for gay rights, a fundraising gig for the Balkan Women’s Aid Fund—and how in the ensuing years he has dedicated himself to being a good citizen and participating in American democracy. In this book he shares stories about making music and making a statement—as well as inspiring ideas for anyone who wants to advance progressive causes, to become a more active part of the community, and to make sure our votes count and our voices are heard.
Author: Donald J. Savoie Publisher: University of Toronto Press ISBN: 9780802082527 Category : Political Science Languages : en Pages : 460
Book Description
Agencies and policies instituted to streamline Ottawa's planning process instead concentrate power in the hands of the Prime Minister, more powerful in Canadian politics than the U.S. President in America. Riveting, startling, and indispensable reading.
Author: Norm Bazinet
Author: Norm Bazinet
Author: Elisabeth Gidengil
Author: Donald J. Savoie
Author: Steven Levitsky
Author: Lee Drutman
Author: Dale Smith
Author: Daniel G. Newman
Author: Krist Novoselic
Author: Donald J. Savoie
Author: Peter G. White