Question

Describe Canada's political climate

Answer 1

The 308 members of the House of Commons, from which the prime minister is selected, are elected for a maximum term of five years by universal suffrage in single-member districts (known in Canada as ridings). The prime minister may dissolve the House of Commons and call new elections at any time within the five-year period. The Senate consists of 105 members who are appointed on a provincial basis by the governor-general on the advice of the prime minister and who may hold office until they reach 75 years of age.

During much of the 20th century, Canada had two major political parties: the Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals. Although both parties were ideologically diverse, the Progressive Conservatives tended to be slightly to the right, while the Liberals were generally regarded as centre-left. These two parties formed all of Canada’s national governments.

Throughout much of the 20th century, the main third party was the New Democratic Party (NDP), its support largely concentrated in western Canada. The NDP occupies a left-of-centre position, advocating an extension of the welfare state. It often won 30 to 40 seats in the House of Commons, but it too saw its representation cut dramatically in the 1990s. In particular, the decline of the NDP and Progressive Conservatives was the result of the regionalization of Canada’s elections. In 2011, however, the NDP made historic gains, capturing 102 seats to become the official opposition, largely as the result of its sweeping success in Quebec.

The issue of Quebec’s autonomy dominated Canadian politics for the last decades of the 20th century. Through various historical constitutional guarantees, Quebec, which is the sole Canadian province where citizens of French origin are in the majority, has developed a distinctive culture that differs in many respects from that of the rest of Canada—and, indeed, from the rest of North America.

The Clarity Act (2000) produced an agreement between Quebec and the federal government that any future referendum must have a clear majority, be based on an unambiguous question, and have the approval of the federal House of Commons.