Canadian Election 2006: A Primer
Hi, all. This is my first dispatch from the Capitol. I am honored to be writing for JTTR in Ryan’s absence. I hope I am at least a fraction as entertaining and informing as he is. Here is my obligatory intro (ahem):
I graduated with a degree in religion from King College in December 2001. Yes, I realize that dates me a little. In my non-blogging time, I am a nanny and intern in Washington, DC. Currently, I am interning in the office of Republican Congressman Tom Feeney of Florida.
One of my greatest interests as of late is Canadian politics, particularly the conservative movement. My interest in Canada stems from my summer vacation in Toronto and Ottawa. Simply put, I love Canada. I do not love it more than the United States, but I do have a lot of affection for that nation north of the 49th parallel.
I am currently a part of both the Grassroots and Election Committees for the DC Young Republicans.
In my non-political time, I enjoy all sorts of music, reading, and of course, sleeping. “South Park” is my favorite TV show, and “Dogma” is my favorite movie.
For my first post, I’m going to fulfill a request Ryan himself made some time ago. It is perhaps a bit late, as he has already written about the fall of the Martin government in Canada, but a backgrounder could never hurt.
Canada is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government. The head of state is the Queen of Canada, who also happens to be Queen of England. Her representative in the country is the Governor General, currently Michelle Jean. The Canadian Parliament consists of 105 Senate seats, which are appointed, and 308 House of Commons seats, which are elected. In an election, the head of whichever party gets the most seats in the House becomes Prime Minister. Hopefully, that will be Stephen Harper after January 23, 2006, but before we get into that, here are the parties and the leaders vying for the Canadian vote:
The current governing party is the Liberal Party of Canada. The current head of the party is Paul Martin, who is currently Prime Minister. The LPC is a centre-left party somewhat similar to the Democratic Party in the United States. Prior to the dissolution of Parliament Tuesday morning- after Monday’s non-confidence vote- Martin lead a minority government, meaning his party failed to get more than a plurality of seats in the House, i.e., the opposition parties held more seats than the government party. A non-confidence vote was most likely inevitable because of this, scandals or no scandals.
The largest opposition party is the Conservative Party of Canada, headed by Stephen Harper. The CPC is a centre-right party and is also relatively new. It was formed in 2003 by a merger of the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (Canadian Alliance), then lead by Harper, and the Progressive Conservative Party, then led by Peter MacKay. The merger was somewhat controversial as MacKay had run for the PC leadership on an anti-merger platform, but both caucuses overwhelmingly voted in favor of it. By “overwhelmingly,” I mean by more than 90% in each caucus. MacKay is now Deputy Leader of the Party. As head of the largest of the opposition parties, Harper is also Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
The second largest opposition party is the Bloc Quebecois, a separatist party from, you guessed it, Quebec. Its leader is Gilles Duceppe. Quebec has a large number of ridings (seats), and the Bloc holds most of them. It is speculated they will take them all in the January 23 election. Because they only run candidates in one province and seek to leave the Confederation, I do not consider them truly a national party.
The third opposition party is the New Democratic Party of Canada, headed by Jack Layton. The NDP is a far-left, social democrat party, and I quite like that its members are sometimes called “dippers.” Of the three national parties, it is the most definitely anti-American and would present the greatest difficulties for diplomacy between us and our northern neighbors. Layton frequently labels policies he doesn’t like as “Americanized.” Support for the NDP generally hovers around the 18-20% mark. The NDP could take votes from the Liberals, which makes them not all bad.
Because the Bloc could take all the seats in Quebec, the likelihood that either the Conservatives or the Liberals could win a majority government is highly unlikely. Additionally, such an event could be the end for either Martin or Harper. Martin’s leadership of the LPC is already criticized as he took the firm majority that had existed under former Prime Minister and LPC head Jean Chretien and was only able to maintain a minority. It is likely that unless he wins a majority, Martin will be ousted as head of the party. Although no official statement has been made, many believe Harper would hang his hat up as leader of the CPC if he fails to win at least a minority government.
I graduated with a degree in religion from King College in December 2001. Yes, I realize that dates me a little. In my non-blogging time, I am a nanny and intern in Washington, DC. Currently, I am interning in the office of Republican Congressman Tom Feeney of Florida.
One of my greatest interests as of late is Canadian politics, particularly the conservative movement. My interest in Canada stems from my summer vacation in Toronto and Ottawa. Simply put, I love Canada. I do not love it more than the United States, but I do have a lot of affection for that nation north of the 49th parallel.
I am currently a part of both the Grassroots and Election Committees for the DC Young Republicans.
In my non-political time, I enjoy all sorts of music, reading, and of course, sleeping. “South Park” is my favorite TV show, and “Dogma” is my favorite movie.
For my first post, I’m going to fulfill a request Ryan himself made some time ago. It is perhaps a bit late, as he has already written about the fall of the Martin government in Canada, but a backgrounder could never hurt.
Canada is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government. The head of state is the Queen of Canada, who also happens to be Queen of England. Her representative in the country is the Governor General, currently Michelle Jean. The Canadian Parliament consists of 105 Senate seats, which are appointed, and 308 House of Commons seats, which are elected. In an election, the head of whichever party gets the most seats in the House becomes Prime Minister. Hopefully, that will be Stephen Harper after January 23, 2006, but before we get into that, here are the parties and the leaders vying for the Canadian vote:
The current governing party is the Liberal Party of Canada. The current head of the party is Paul Martin, who is currently Prime Minister. The LPC is a centre-left party somewhat similar to the Democratic Party in the United States. Prior to the dissolution of Parliament Tuesday morning- after Monday’s non-confidence vote- Martin lead a minority government, meaning his party failed to get more than a plurality of seats in the House, i.e., the opposition parties held more seats than the government party. A non-confidence vote was most likely inevitable because of this, scandals or no scandals.The largest opposition party is the Conservative Party of Canada, headed by Stephen Harper. The CPC is a centre-right party and is also relatively new. It was formed in 2003 by a merger of the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance (Canadian Alliance), then lead by Harper, and the Progressive Conservative Party, then led by Peter MacKay. The merger was somewhat controversial as MacKay had run for the PC leadership on an anti-merger platform, but both caucuses overwhelmingly voted in favor of it. By “overwhelmingly,” I mean by more than 90% in each caucus. MacKay is now Deputy Leader of the Party. As head of the largest of the opposition parties, Harper is also Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.The second largest opposition party is the Bloc Quebecois, a separatist party from, you guessed it, Quebec. Its leader is Gilles Duceppe. Quebec has a large number of ridings (seats), and the Bloc holds most of them. It is speculated they will take them all in the January 23 election. Because they only run candidates in one province and seek to leave the Confederation, I do not consider them truly a national party.The third opposition party is the New Democratic Party of Canada, headed by Jack Layton. The NDP is a far-left, social democrat party, and I quite like that its members are sometimes called “dippers.” Of the three national parties, it is the most definitely anti-American and would present the greatest difficulties for diplomacy between us and our northern neighbors. Layton frequently labels policies he doesn’t like as “Americanized.” Support for the NDP generally hovers around the 18-20% mark. The NDP could take votes from the Liberals, which makes them not all bad.Because the Bloc could take all the seats in Quebec, the likelihood that either the Conservatives or the Liberals could win a majority government is highly unlikely. Additionally, such an event could be the end for either Martin or Harper. Martin’s leadership of the LPC is already criticized as he took the firm majority that had existed under former Prime Minister and LPC head Jean Chretien and was only able to maintain a minority. It is likely that unless he wins a majority, Martin will be ousted as head of the party. Although no official statement has been made, many believe Harper would hang his hat up as leader of the CPC if he fails to win at least a minority government.
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