Canada's Democratic Deficit: Is Proportional Representation The Answer? PDF Download

Author: Dennis Pilon
Publisher:
ISBN: 0968853900
Category : Elections
Languages : en
Pages : 41

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Author: Patti Tamara Lenard
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 077482378X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
Canada and the United States are consistently ranked among the most democratic countries in the world, yet voices expressing concern about the quality of these democracies are becoming louder and more insistent. Critics maintain that the two countries suffer from a “democratic deficit,” a deficit that raises profound questions about the legitimacy and effectiveness of their democratic institutions. Imperfect Democracies brings together Canadian and American scholars to compare how the democratic deficit plays out in the two nations. An important contribution to the field of democratic theory and the study of democratic institutions, this timely book will spark debate on both sides of the border.

Author: Daniel Gold
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780494402481
Category : Election districts
Languages : en
Pages : 105

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This paper criticizes the 1991 Supreme Court decision in Reference re Prov. Electoral Boundaries (Sask.), which held that the electoral map did not violate s. 3 of the Charter, despite government interference in the Boundaries Commission's mandate and significant disparities in district population. I argue that the Court's reasoning was flawed, and that it failed to protect disadvantaged minorities, evolve democracy or set appropriate standards to prevent gerrymandering. This becomes apparent when contrasting the Court's views of representation with a threefold theory of democratic elections (local representation, ideological expression and group decision-making). Discussing the role groups play in elections, this theory highlights the importance of 'one person-one vote', and how disparities between electoral districts lead to disparities in citizen voice and influence, damaging Canadian democracy. Adopting Mixed Member Proportional representation (MMP) would be a pragmatic solution to the Court's decision and the ongoing voter inequalities in Canada. (p. II).

Author: Gregory Conti
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108428738
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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The notion of 'representative democracy' seems unquestionably familiar today, but how did the Victorians understand democracy, parliamentary representation, and diversity?

Author: J. DeBardeleben
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 0230240909
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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Book Description
The decline of citizen involvement affects two key elements of democratic government: elections and political parties. Activating the Citizen examines the reasons underlying citizen withdrawal and explores and assesses innovative approaches on both sides of the Atlantic to try to counter these phenomena.

Author: Howard A. Doughty
Publisher: Guernica Editions
ISBN: 155071287X
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Focusing on the prevailing ideas connected to cultural and social diversity, this collection of essays deploys a variety of critical methods originating from social, cultural, and literary theory to analyze the relationship between historical and social forces and recurrent cultural beliefs and values.

Author: Julie L. MacArthur
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774831464
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Canada is known for being an energy-producing nation – with much attention being paid to the Alberta tar sands and their large carbon footprint. This book looks at a very different part of the Canadian energy sector: the hundreds of renewable energy co-ops that have sprung up across the nation. These co-ops are democratically structured, community-based organizations that use sun, wind, rivers, tides, and plant and animal waste as sources of local power generation. Empowering Electricity offers an illuminating analysis of these co-ops within the context of larger debates over climate change, renewable electricity policy, sustainable community development, and provincial power-sector ownership. It looks at the conditions that led to this new wave of co-operative development, examines their form and location, and shines a light on the promises and challenges accompanying their development.

Author: Dennis Raphael
Publisher:
ISBN: 0968853986
Category : Community health services
Languages : en
Pages : 32

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Author: Jeffrey Simpson
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
ISBN: 1551994437
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Is Canada a dictatorship – albeit a friendly dictatorship? In this thoughtful book, Jeffrey Simpson argues that the Liberal Party’s re-election to a third majority government must raise the question: Is Canada in danger of becoming a de facto one-party state, ruled by an all-powerful leader? An effective parliamentary system presumes that at least one party is ready and capable of replacing the existing government by winning an election. Clearly, no party was ready in the last election, and none of the opposition parties absorbed the lessons of Canadian political history, that the Liberals can only be defeated by coalitions that show a preference for moderation and compromise. The recent election results have left the Liberals in power for the foreseeable future. Jean Chrétien’s longevity and reluctance to step down has highlighted the most alarming part of Canada’s de facto one-party government: Canadian parliamentary democracy now places more power in the hands of the prime minister than does any other democracy. Chrétien, who has survived and thrived so long in this political system, is the last person from whom anyone should expect an interest in reform. At the same time, Canadians’ increasing discouragement over their political system can be seen in a declining voter turnout, a documented erosion in respect for all politicians, and in an increasing interest in other forms of political engagement as opposed to organized partisan politics. The Friendly Dictatorship demonstrates what has been happening in three areas that are vital to Canadian democracy: the parliamentary system, the political parties, and the electorate. What has occurred within each of these spheres has directly influenced developments in the others, and the combined effect has been to leave Canadian democracy in a worrying state. The Friendly Dictatorship delivers a message that is informed, articulate, and passionate, and that should be heard by all Canadians.

Author: Caroline Andrew
Publisher: UBC Press
ISBN: 0774858583
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Electing a Diverse Canada presents the most extensive analysis to date of the electoral representation of immigrants, minorities, and women in Canada. Covering eleven cities, as well as Canada's Parliament, it breaks new ground by assessing the representation of diverse identity groups across multiple levels of government. Electoral representation is an important indicator of a democracy's health, and this book provides both a baseline for future research and an outline of the key challenges facing Canadian democracy.