Democracy

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Democracy in Canada
A Political Lab How you can be a Catalyst for
Positive Change in your Community
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Who runs Canada?
1. The Queen of England? 2. Canadas
Parliament? 3. You?
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Who runs Canada?

• As the Queen of England is a figurehead in
  Canada, someone has run the country!! In Canada,
  its Parliament.
• Canadas Parliament is made up of two houses
  that we call the legislative branch of government
• Parliament
• The House of Commons with 308 Members of
  Parliament or MPs (elected)
• The Senate with 105 Senators (appointed)

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Who is the leader?

• The Prime Minister is the leader of the Political
  Party that gets the most votes in the House of
  Commons. How does your vote in Calgary influence
  who becomes the Prime Minister?
• Does the Prime Minister make all the decisions on
  his own? No! He has a Cabinet made up of other
  elected MPs that he gets advice from. And, the PM
  will get advice and appoint tasks to all MPs.

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What about you?

• Democracy is a political system that allows YOU
  the freedom to make choices about how Canada is
  run.
• How do YOU see democracy? How would YOU describe
  Canadian democracy to someone from another
  country?
• Everyone may have their own vision
• free and equal representation of people
• one person, one vote
• government by the people for the people

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Where did democracy come from?

• The United States of America?
• Ancient Greece?
• A Nintendo video game?

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The origin of democracy
Democracy originated in the Agora the ancient
marketplace of ancient Greece
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Electing Members of Parliament (MP)
Voters in Canada elect Members of Parliament in
308 federal Electoral Districts. Can you name
the 8 federal electoral districts in Calgaryand
the current Members of Parliament? And, how many
provincial electoral districts are in
Calgarymore or less than federal electoral
districts?
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Calgarys Federal Electoral Districts

• Calgary West MP Rob Anders
• Calgary Nosehill MP Diane Ablonzky
• Calgary Northeast MP Devinder Shory
• Calgary Centre North MP Jim Prentice
• Calgary Centre MP Lee Richardson
• Calgary East MP Deepak Obhrai
• Calgary Southeast MP Jason Kenney
• Calgary Southwest MP Stephen Harper

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Calgarys Provincial Ridings
Dont be confusedyou live in a federal electoral
riding AND a provincial electoral riding!
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Political Parties

• Members of Parliament usually carry the flag of a
  national political party.
• In Canada there are 5 well-recognized parties
• Conservative Party,
• Liberal Party,
• National Democratic Party,
• Bloc Québécois (no candidates outside Quebec)
• Green Party.
• How can you learn more about the policies of
  these different parties?
• Sometimes MPs run as Independents. Why would
  you do that?

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Federal Elections

• The last federal election was in October 2008.
  The Political Party with the most MPs in the
  House of Commons at the end of an election forms
  the government. The leader of the winning Party
  becomes the Prime Minister.
• The Conservative Party of Canada had the most MPs
  in the House of Commons after the 2008 election.
• Why do we call the present Conservativeled
  government a minority government?

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Political Lab
How you can be a catalyst for positive change in
the federal riding of Calgary West
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Democracy in the Federal Riding of Calgary West
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Political Hypothesis 1 Voting in a federal
election is the only ballot you can cast in
federal politics
NO
YES
Annual General Meeting for the Calgary West EDA
March 28th 2009
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Political Hypothesis 2 To vote in Canada, you
have to be 18 years old
NO
YES
Congo Kennedy-Glans photograph
You can join political parties and vote in boards
of directors at AGE 14
You must be 18 YEARS OLD to vote in a national
election
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Political Hypothesis 3 Your MP has a job
description and a performance review

• As your elected representative, what do you think
  your MP should do? What is their job?
• How can elected politicians make your life
  better? How can you conduct a performance review?
• Have you ever met your MP? What question would
  you ask your MP if you met him or her?

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Political Hypothesis 4 It would be a good thing
if everyone in Calgary West voted

• What would happen if everyone in Calgary West
  voted in a national election? What would happen
  if nobody voted?
• What would happen if we HAD to vote, like in
  Australia, or we were fined?
• What would happen if the voting age was
  changedto 21or 16or 30?

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Political Hypothesis 5 I can tell when my MP
is listening to me
NO
YES
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Political Hypothesis 6 I will likely vote the
same way my parents vote
Yes
No
My values are similar to my parentsso it is
likely Ill vote the same way they vote.
I am my own personno one else should tell me
how to vote.
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Political Hypothesis 7 When I cast a vote, it
should be a secret ballot
Yes
No
Secret ballots make it easier for people to
voteI wouldnt want others to know how I vote.
Can you think of a country where people would be
afraid to vote if ballots werent secret?
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Political Hypothesis 8 In Calgary, the
nomination contest IS the election in federal
politics
Yes
No
Everyone votes Conservative in federal politics
in Calgary. Whoever is nominated, wins!
Voters and voting patterns are changing in
Calgary.
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Political Hypothesis 9 There are many ways I
can talk about political issues in Calgary
Yes
No
If I want, I can talk about politics in a million
different ways on Facebook, Twitter, MSN
No one ever wants to talk about politics it is
taboo!
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Political Hypothesis 10
As an individual citizen in my community, I can
be a catalyst for positive political change.
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No. Im just a single drop of water in an ocean
of need.
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Yes.Just one drop of water can create a wide
ripple effect.
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YES!!Constantly flowing water has the power to
find its way through even the toughest barriers.
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Be the change you want to see in the world