A Brief Explanation of Canada
A friend of my wife requested some information about life in Canada and her politics. So this is the little essay I wrote for him. After some minor revisions I decided to share it with the rest of the world and those interested in understanding Canada better.
This is also for those who think Canada is the 51st state or on another continent altogether.
So how does one describe life in Canada?
Typically I’ve observed life there pretty much as a shadow of being in America. As a kid I always wanted what we couldn’t get in the U.S., mostly toys and junk food. To protect Canadian culture we were deprived many good things.
Politicians in Canada fall into two categories:
1. Ambitious American wannabes (typically Conservatives) who feel jealous that we aren’t a super power and will happily align us with America to reap the benefits from a “world stage” perspective. Sort of like the relationship between Sylvester and Frank Stallone. With Sylvester as America and Canada as little brother Frank.
2. Or defiant nationals who want the benefits of being America’s neighbor but still be independent and will not tolerate “big brother” America telling them what to do. So in a way they are similar to Quebec’s politicians. (I’ll get to that province and her people later.)
All in all, Canadian politics are rarely interesting and the scandals are more often lame and silly. Most politicians will run from a scandal without putting up a fight. In the past, name calling has been reason enough to resign, so very sad. No hookers, no drugs, no “pay to play,” no Blago. I’m not a fan of the governor, but I’m enjoying the spectacle of watching him put up a fight.
Our political system (which follows England’s type) exists as a constitutional monarchy with a federal system of parliamentary government in a democratic mode. Simply put; we vote for an entire party and philosophy rather than an individual person. Yet we will show our support for a party by electing for a specific politician in our riding.
A riding is;
1. Any of the three administrative divisions into which Yorkshire, England is divided, namely North Riding, East Riding and West Riding.
2. Any similar administrative division elsewhere.
In America you either join one of the two parties and vote accordingly, or remain independent and vote for the politician you think will do the better job (at the time) despite party lines. Even though they’re smaller third parties in America, they really accomplish little. America’s Ruling Class have rigged the game against new parties, which of course is why the Tea Party should become independent and why those in power are so afraid. In Canada we have a multi-party system and power fluctuates with each election.
We have two bodies of power, the Senate and House of Commons.
The Senate consists of 105 seats with Senators appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the prime minister. Seats are assigned on a regional basis, with each of the four major regions receiving 24 seats, and the remainder of the available seats being assigned to smaller regions.
The four major regions are: ONTARIO, QUEBEC, the MARITIME PROVINCES, and the WESTERN PROVINCES.
The smaller regions are NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR, the NORTHWEST TERRITORIES, YUKON, and NUNAVUT.
The House of Commons consists of 308 seats and all Members of Parliament, or MPs are voted in democratically. Here’s where most of the work gets done. The size of the House and apportionment of seats to each province is revised after every census, conducted every five years, and is based on population changes and approximately on representation-by-population.
An election can be called at any time, but it must be within a five year term limit. So whatever happens, after five years we vote again.
Our head of state is called Prime Minister and the one selected to be Prime Minister is the current leader of the party which wins the most seats. STEPHEN HARPER is our current PM and he got that by arranging a no-confidence vote against the Liberals who had been involved in a corruption scandal.
The history of that; A few years back the scandal broke (not sure the details, mostly involved mis-uses of money) the Liberal PM pledged to get to the bottom of it and delayed a forced election by making deals with the NDP [New Democratic Party] and the Bloc Quebecois. The Conservatives were outvoted and lost their 1st attempt at a no-confidence vote.
But not unlike their American counterparts the Liberals turned on their new “allies” by not making good on their back room deals, and also the full extent of the corruption was revealed, the Liberals were finally forced into an election and lost power. Depending on how many seats a winning party has (meaning if they can pass laws with or without help) a majority or minority government.
Personally I think the system works far better in comparison to the U.S. two-party system. May not be as interesting as elections can be called within a moment’s notice and end in 30 days, there’s no build up and MSNBC won’t get enough time to send lawyers up to Alaska.
Here in America, after some 200 years the Ruling Class slowly formed and now have a stranglehold on your government. Which I think has created a culture of absolute corruption and zero accountability. None. When you have two choices, all you can do is punish the current criminal.
True, an individual politician might get voted out, (a scapegoat for the common good) but as a party there’s no accountability so they keep on giving bailouts. So they’ll always remain in power despite who you vote for. One side or the other.
In Canada if a party has failed to live up to their promises they can be voted out of power (or existence) with a vengeance. In 1991 then current PM Brian Mulroney used dirty tactics to earn 8 additional senate seats to pass his GST [Goods & Services Tax] and the public hated it so much that his party was voted out of power and eventually being. A political party which doesn’t have a place in the playoff, doesn’t play.
Another thing about Canadian politics, parties with similar ideologies sometimes merge together to survive. Mulroney (actually he had resigned by then) had 151 seats but lost all but two in the 1993 election, so say what you will about Canadians, you piss us off and we will crush you. Ha, ha, ha, ha!!
Because of Mulroney’s f**k-up, his former PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY merged with the CANADIAN ALLIANCE in 2003 to become the CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA. Can you imagine Barack Obama ruining his party and forcing them to join forces with the Green Party or Ross Perot? An interesting thought.
In many respects there is a certain degree of socialism within our country, but not to our detriment. The arts are sponsored by the government and we are inundated with American influences due to the fact that some dumb ass politician sold the rights for theatre owners to American interests in the 1930’s.
We have 3 main networks that I can name CBC, CTV and Global. More networks exist in French Quebec, but we English don’t watch them. They aren’t exactly controlled by the government; instead the Gov. gives them money for projects so there’s little profit to be made
Despite what you may think I do believe there is very little censorship, if any. I do know that Canada protects us from your dastardly culture by changing any American network or concept into a Canadian equivalent. MTV became MuchMusic in Canuckville. HBO became some sort of pay TV move channel whose name I forget. If there’s not an American broadcast station in close proximity to Canada we may not get the signal for our networks to assume control.
That means we see commercials for a local audience and that we had no FOX in Montreal for 10 years because FOX was not close enough in New York. That must have changed with digital technology and the internet and whatever.
Alcohol is regulated by the government and there are several government controlled stores that sell alcohol throughout the provinces. Though beer and other alcohol related products can be bought at other retail chains and corner stores. Drinking ages vary within the provinces, for Quebec I know its 18 years of age.
Fast-food chains are licensees like in America and our government controls no aspect of them, save for Quebec which requires them to be bilingual due to their xenophobic, racist tendencies.
Despite what that idiot and propagandist Michael Moore says or thinks, healthcare is not free, however I still think socialized medicine is the better alternative. How it works from my vaguest recollections, we pay taxes, money goes into big pot, and government pays doctors and reimburses us later for payment.
Canada does have insurance, I assume at least some private, because my dentist didn’t take my dentaide insurance for a time. But I do believe that all emergency staff is paid a set rate which I think is why the capitalists (not to mention the doctors) are so opposed to socialized health care.
Put simply;
Capatalists + Doctors = Money. Money = Power. Power = Security. Security = A belief in controlling one’s destiny. A belief in controlling one’s destiny = a delusion.
Case in point my wife visits the emergency room in Canada and pays $600.00 for the entire treatment. Every technician, nurse, doctor, IV, needle and whatever is covered for that amount.
In the U.S., she pays for virtually everything. Ambulance, doctors, technicians and use of equipment, needles and the medicine which is administered. One time she told me a single trip in the U.S. cost over $2000.00.
Doctors need to get out of the “getting paid” business and remember they are in the “healing” business.
But now I’m blogging from my sense of moral outrage and this is supposed to be a lesson in Canadian life, so I stop. I guess that’s all I can think of for now. If you want to know WTF is going on in Quebec that will be another blog.
That’s the end, thank you for paying attention.
I bid adieu,
your Origami reporter,
L.Manly
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