How do the politics of Canada differ from the U.S?

Question

thanks for the answer!

Answer 1

We elect our leader differently. Parties put candidates in different ridings. The winner of the riding gets a seat in Parliament. The party with the most seats in Parliament forms the official government. The leader of the party becomes Prime Minister. If the PM does not win his seat, usually a backbencher resigns his seat and thre is a byelection in that riding.

We also have minority governments. In this case, the government doesn't have more than 50% of the seats in Parliament. If the government tables a bill that Parliament does not pass, it is seen as a confidence issue. Parliament goes to a non-confidence vote and if the ruling party loses this vote, it must call a new election.

In US, you essentially have a two party system. So the President has little oppositio except for the senate. In Canada, the Senate has little power. They have final say over bills that are assed by Parliament but they rarely block these bills. They can onl block anything that Parliament passes 3 times, and then it passes by default. Senate is appointed in Canada. Senators keep position until they resign or they die. PM appoints one of his buddies whenever there is an opening.

Answer 2

Besides the difference in voting mechanics, the political landscape of Canada is significantly more left leaning than in the USA.

For example, if a politician espousing the views of a blue state democrat ran for office in Canada, he would be branded right of center and find his political home among the Conservative party. It is barely possible, but unlikely that he or she would find a home among the supposed "centrist" party, the Liberals, as they are very socialistic by American standards.

A red state republican would have no politicl home in Canada outside of the province of Alberta (my home) or certain rural ridings of the provinces of British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

There is a wide spread Canadian belief that the government owes us security and pensions and services for which we pay exorbidant taxes (by US standards) for.

The highly socialist New Democrat party finds its analogue in European Green parties. Tehy believe in even greater amounts of government controls to ensure that corporate interests are curtailed and that workers may have the maximum benefit for the least effort, regardless of what this may do to the economy, which they all believe is controlled by heartless business owners.

The Bloc Quebecois, is a regional party based in Quebec and espouses a separtist agenda. To an American ,the idea of a seccessionist ppolitical party may sound incredible, so imagine the potential chaos as this party almost formed the official opposition in our 4 party electorate!

imagine if Texas elected congressmen that all wanted to seceed from the US? do you think the rest of the ocuntry would tolerate it? in Canada, we not only tolerate it, but pay these bozos off to try to keep them happy and not threatening to separate!

Answer 3

well, in the west of both countries are very cool people, parts of the east have nice folks but....you know you got them French Commies in Quebec and you got those Nazi Bush types in D.C.