(Cranny p.55) Normally, when Britain went to war, Canada would automatically be at war as well, but King took a big step in not following orders from the mother country. Another accomplishment King succeeded in was demanding to be able to sign an international treaty without a British representative’s permission. (Cranny p.55) Once again, King did not follow the rules. He was supposed to receive a British representative’s signature for treaties, but he continued to push for greater Canadian independence. Secondly, The Balfour Report allowed Canada to receive autonomy and gave Canada equal status with Britain for creating laws.
Comparing Canada’s and the United States’ government system, we can see just how different they are from each other. With Canada, they have a responsible government, where the executive functions at will of the legislative body. This type of government is the best way to maintain stability, because if the government wants to create a bill, it has to be passed by the House of Commons. However if that bill does not pass, then the Parliament would have a vote of non-confidence. If they get a majority in favour of non-confidence, then the prime minister must call an election.
“This is a white man’s country and we want it left a white man’s country.” –A W Neill (Krishna, 2009). This quote is a fine example of multiculturalism in Canada. It shows how false the policy of multiculturalism is, although we appear to have a superior image. In 1971, multiculturalism became an official policy of Canada (Mock, 1997). It states that every citizen is able to express their own culture in this country; but that doesn’t necessarily make it multicultural.
Many members of parliament were not willing to compromise and come up with a solution to make Canada a better country. Surprisingly, Macdonald joined with the leader of the Liberals, George Brown, to form the Great Coalition. This was an alliance formed to make decision-making in Canada easier. Canada’s votes were always separated by the French and English who always voted against each other. Macdonald believed unity would help Canada solve its issues.
No! They are appointed chosen by guess who the govern general who appoints senators based on Harpers choices. Elected senators would demand corresponding power and responsibility to go along with their new status and also unelected senators render judgment without being influenced by anyone (thechronicle). Reformed Senate could be used to overcome the chronic inability of the House of Commons to reflect the diversity of the Canadian people. Having our senators being reformed would also help create a diverse and a representative body.
They were separated by language, religion and culture. Pierre Chauveau, Quebec’s first premier from 1867-1873 is quoted as saying “English and French …. we climb by a double flight of stairs toward the destinies reserved for us on this continent, without knowing each other, without meeting each other, except on the landing of politics.” (Pg 18 destinies Book). George-Etienne Cartier, a French nationalist, when defending the Dominion of Canada stated to Quebecers, “the new nationality would be a political nationality and not a cultural nationality”(Destinties page6). The Fathers of Confederation understood the differences of the people they were binding and as
In regards to the Aboriginal situation, they claim that the method in which the government has dealt with their citizens is inapplicable and ineffective to them. They have long sought after a system of self government or a kind of recognized distinct society within Canada. Many ethnic groups feel that separatism is the strongest form of politic expression and thus legitimizes the particular group (Horowitz 166). I believe that accommodation and tolerance is needed when discussing the aboriginal groups of Canada. Firstly, my paper will illustrate the many issues that arise with how communitarian scholars have approached the accommodation of this ethnic minority.
A significant number of Canadians in Quebec wish to leave the country and form their own state. Their reasons being: they don’t believe that the Canadian government does support their cultural differences, and they believe Ottawa favours other provinces, and that they prefer English as the official language. 3 As a result, two referendums have been held in Québec asking citizens if they wish to secede from the country, and in 1982 we suffered through the October Crisis which involved a radical separatist party called Le Front de liberation du Quebec.) The FLQ used terrorist tactics to pressure the Quebec government to liberate itself from Canada. This hostility among different cultural groups suggests that, while Canada has made significant progress, it still has large cultural divides among ethnic and linguistic minorities.
C.J. Dickson in R. v. Keegstra Both the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and s. 2(b) the of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protect the freedom of expression. (1) Yet in both countries governments motivated by concern for the public welfare have attempted to suppress "hate speech," a category of expression commonly defined as consisting of offensive, abusive, and insulting language that targets individuals and groups on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. Hate speech is undeniably ugly, so much so that even persons normally leery of censorship might be tempted to agree that nothing of value is lost by its suppress ion. But constitutional guarantees cannot be evaded so easily.
It seems as though many calls for accommodation come from the advocates of mixed-up political precision, the promoters of multiculturalism, diversity and communitarianism. For them, the presence of permanent ethnic and religious groups and of collective rights attached to them is a public good. Reasonable accommodation is one of the ways of upholding differences and the negotiation of the level of accommodation. This model of Canada is what Joe Clark meant when he said that Canada is a “community of communities.” (James) The opponents of accommodation, especially in Quebec, are often inspired by French republicanism, by views of secularism, of equality and of integration of newcomers as equals into our society. They dislike the idea that civil society should become a permanent negotiating session between powerful lobbies.