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Making Decisions in a Parliamentary Democracy
Activity
• Making Decisions in a Parliamentary Democracy
Who will Decide?
• Decision making can be a difficult process and Canadian society has established mechanisms to accomplish this
• In Canada the central political organization is Parliament which has the power to:
• levy taxes • make laws enforced by sanctions to regulate
behaviour
Checks and Balances
The Constitution defines what each branch of government can and cannot do
• Charter of rights & freedoms defines the rights & obligations of its citizens
• The Opposition has the right to question the behaviour of the government
Checks and Balances Cont.
• Freedom of the press and access to information ensures that the behaviour of government is constantly scrutinized by the public
• Must be voted in• The Supreme Court of Canada has the
power to rule legislation by Parliament unconstitutional if it does not conform to the spirit and letter of the constitution
The Media
• The media has two roles
• One is to let people know what kinds of decisions are being contemplated.
• The other is to provide a forum in which different perspective
on the issue can be
brought forward
The Media
• The Member of Parliament has a responsibility to listen to the concerns and wishes of her/his constituents
• The Opposition has a responsibility to question, to offer alternatives
• legislative committees may hold hearings in which interested citizens and pressure groups can make submissions.
What goes on in the House of Commons?
• M.P. speaking out against the government
• Question Period
Discussion
• Do you think that these methods are effective in keeping checks and balances on the government?
The Structure of the Canadian Government
Appoints judges
Refers laws to
Judiciary Executive Legislature
Crown
Governor General
Prime Minister
Cabinet
Senate
House of Commons
Appoints members
Reviews bills
Responsible to
Responsible to
Advises
Other Courts
Supreme Courtof Canada
Voters
GovernmentMinistries/Departments
Ele
ct
Mem
bers
to
go
vern
me
nt
Decides casesAdministers
andImplementspolicies and
laws
Decidespolicy
Stage 1
First ReadingThe bill is introduced, considered
“read” for the first time and printed.
Stage 2Second Reading
Members debate the general principle of the bill.
Stage 3Committee Stage
A committee of government and opposition members examines the bill clause by clause and submits it with
any amendments in report to the House.
Stage 4Report Stage
Members may move additional amendments at this point to the bill.
Stage 5Third Reading
Members’ debate and vote on the bill.
Stage 6Senate Stage
After the House has passed the bill, it is sent to the Senate, where it follows a
similar legislative process as in the house.
Stage 7Royal Assent
After the bill has been passed by both Houses, the Members are summoned to the Senate Chambers, where the bill
is given Royal Assent and becomes law.
• How a bill becomes
law in Canada
Our Constituency
Our M.P.
Randy Hoback
Caucus: Conservative
Constituency: Prince Albert
Province/Territory: Saskatchewan
The Political Process
The Political Process
• Every society and culture has a political process of some kind. This process may be vastly different than the Canadian process, but it is no less a political process.
• The many people groups of Africa developed their own political processes over the centuries. As one would expect, there were similarities and differences between these political processes.
Nigeria
• When European nations began to compete for control of Africa, they amalgamated large territories and groups of people with many geographical, cultural, and linguistic differences into single political entities.
• For example, Britain joined two distinct geographical regions and more than 250 cultural groups when it created Nigeria in 1914.
Establishing a New Political System in Nigeria
• Britain extended its control over Nigeria by ruling through local chiefs and rulers.
• This allowed the British to control the overall direction of policies while still giving some freedom to local African rulers to set local policies.
• Legislative councils were also established to represent local opinion, but they had little influence.
Nigeria
• The political system established by the British in Nigeria did not really change until the late 1940's when the legislative council was made more representative of the population and its powers were expanded.
• Nigeria became independent in 1960 and developed a political system similar to that in Britain. However, the country had virtually no experience with democratic political processes.
Simulation
• For example, you could divide the class into those who play on school sports teams and those who don't as an initial activity to raise your students' awareness of the problems this kind of situation presents.
• Then give the students some issues which they can vote on in democratic fashion.
• However, the issues should be geared so that the majority group can remain united and win every decision.
• Also make sure that the majority group understands that they can make laws restricting the media, freedom of speech, public assembly, and preventing special interest groups from forming and putting their message across to the people.
Journal Entry
• After the simulation, give me some of your thoughts on how a democracy works.
• Are there some benefits to it? if so what. What are the down falls to a democracy?
Renegotiating the Social Contract
Reflection
• Reflect on what you wrote about democracy
• Then ask yourself what would happen if the minority fought to make decisions
Web Quest
• Renegotiating the Social Contract WebQuest
Journal Entry
• After examining the conflict in the webquest answer the following question.
Should minority concerns be addressed by the majority? When should a minority accept a democratic decision and when should it continue to fight the decision?
Nigeria
• The inexperience of the Nigerian people with democracy was made worse by the division of political parties according to cultural groups.
• This resulted in conflict between the various groups.
• The conflicts worsened as it became obvious that the Hausa people, who made up about 50% of the population, were able to dominate the government.
Trouble Brewing
• The Hausa put the interests of its region and people before the interests of the other regions and other cultural groups.
• The smaller cultural groups in Nigeria felt powerless to bring about the policies they wanted.
• Although Nigeria had the form of democracy, most people were unfamiliar with the democratic political process.
• Consequently some of the people who felt locked out of power turned to a tried and true method of gaining power - violence.
Web Site
• What happens when conflict resolution does not work between citizens and government?
• Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970)
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biafran_War
