Canadian Political Parties

Document Type:Thesis

Subject Area:Politics

Document 1

Canadians are considered as opinionated people; thus the country has several Political parties. Besides, the political parties in Canada exist at different levels such as federal political parties, provincial political parties and local political parties. Furthermore, political parties in Canada controls the Canadian system of government. The authority of governing Canada is through Parliament which comprises of House of Commons and Senate. Besides, political parties control the functioning of Canadian House of Commons and Parliamentary System. Their decisions and political ideologies control Canadian citizens. Thus, how well is the Canadian Party system represents Canadians? There have been researches and studies analysis of the Canadian Party system. The studies have shown that even though the political parties’ ideologies exist, there are also other factors and "forces" that influence the decisions they make provide a life of quality to Canadians.

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Canadian Political Parties and their Ideologies Canadian political parties can be categorized across several levels such as Federal Political Parties (National Political Parties), Provincial Political parties and Local Political Parties. The current registered political parties include; The Conservative Party of Canada, Liberal Party of Canada, Communist Party of Canada, Marijuana Party, Libertarian Party of Canada, Progressive Canadian Party, Animal Protection Party of Canada, Rhinoceros Party, The NDP (New Democratic Party), Bloc Quebecois and Green Party of Canada among others (Elections Canada). Thus, the party is regarded as a left-center party but not to NDP party right political notion (Canada Guide). The Conservative Party of Canada It was form after Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance Party and Progressive Conservative Party merged. The Progressive Conservative Party ideology was overly based on free market ideologies.

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On the other hand, The Reform Party around the 1980s had ideologies that the government of Prime Minister Mulroney was entirely indifferent to Canadians plight especially those in rural areas of Quebec and Ontario. Today, the Conservative Party is a party with policies favouring smaller and less intrusive government, a robust regime of law and order, respect for traditional norms involving family, gender, human life, and sex and values, low taxes and active military. The separatists are the French-speaking Quebec province with the ideology of separating from Canada to form their own country. The Quebecers are expressing their dissatisfaction with the system of government in Canada and are all together going out of national or federal politics. Members of Parliament of Bloc Quebecois reason that they only represent the Quebec interests and that is the business that takes them to Parliament in Ottawa.

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Thus Bloc Quebecois runs political candidates just in Quebec to promote Quebec sovereignty at the national level. Furthermore, Bloc Quebecois is considered to be left regarding political ideology, perhaps the most left throughout North America region. According to Elections Canada, the two parties scoped only 52,000 votes in total in 2015 elections in Canada. Provincial Parties initially were closely matched with federal political parties under the two-party plus system. However, currently, most provincial parties have undergone evolution to adopt a different two-party system sometimes referred to as a left-right split. In Manitoba Province, the dominant parties are the Manitoba Progressive Conservatives and the Manitoba New Democratic Party (Manitoba NDP). In Saskatchewan Province, the ruling party is the Saskatchewan Party. Also, United Conservative Party of Alberta was founded through the emergence of Wildrose Party, and the Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta.

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In Yukon Province, the territory is divided between the Yukon Party and the Yukon Liberals. In 1992, the Yukon Progressive Conservative Party was renamed to Yukon Party. Besides, the provinces of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Prince Edward and New Brunswick usually called Atlantic Canada have two-party systems controlled by Conservatives and the Liberals. Other political parties are completely prevented from control except for NDP ruling ones around 2009-2013 in Nova Scotia Province. However, today the political parties in Canada are seen to have abandoned or deviated from performing this kind of role. The main reason may be because the political parties have an elite tendency of brokerage. It, therefore, means that the political parties are not open or have not prioritized the ideologies and policies of the Canadians citizens that they represent (Koop 359).

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Furthermore, political parties in Canada are considered to be highly disciplined far more than the standards of Westminster thereby reducing the capability of MPs (Members of Parliament to individually provide adequate representation of their constituents' preferences and interests in the parliament. Also, according to Wolinetz (185), the Canadian political parties' components that act as a role in communication facilitation between the government and Canadian citizens, are perceived to be quite temporary (qtd. The model is called the model of catch-all party. The catch-all party approach is where there is competition between state and the civil society. The members of civil society performance are inadequate in shaping the policy of the public. In comparison, the election campaigns of catch-all parties are considered less labour demanding to those of large or mass parties. This is because the election campaigns rely greatly on expensive services of professionals.

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Furthermore, in some elections such as the pre-1993 election the regime was so biased such the special committee. The committee operated on the principal of electoral advantage and short-term interest, for the all-too-familiar basis. The committee biasness enabled only the representatives from the dominant parties to be members (Jenson and Dobrowolsky qtd. in Koop 327). Moreover, cartel parties provide a distinction between non-members and members. com/government/political-parties/. Elections Canada. Elections Canada Online | Registered Political Parties and Parties Eligible for Registration. Élections Canada En Ligne - Elections Canada On-line, 26 Mar.  2018, www. Party constituency associations and the service, policy and symbolic responsiveness of Canadian members of parliament. Canadian Journal of Political Science, vol.  45, no.  2, June 2012, pp. Macivor, Heather. htm.

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