What processes are used to determine Member of Parliament (MP’s) and Senators?
What do you think this statement means?
Here are a few hints:
It has to do with the election process
It is how we determine who is elected in Canada
It is also known as "winner takes all"
First Past the Post - the person who wins the most votes wins the position. This person does not have to receive the majority of votes.
Research the topic using some of the following sites and write an opinion paper to discuss your thoughts on the 'first past the post' process. The document can be found in the Social Studies 9 Workspace titled Chapter 1.
Resources to help you build your opinion:
CBC News - The pros and cons of Canada’s First Past the Post electoral system
Wikipedia - First past the post voting
Advantages and Disadvantages of First Past the Post
The Samara Centre for Democracy - First Past the Post
As early as 1841, Representation by Population was a controversial issue among politicians. The Act of the Union contained many points that made a considerable impact on how people were representated:
Province of Canada was created
Canada East (Lower Canada)
Canada West (Upper Canada)
Established a single parliament - Province of Canada
Equal number of seats for each region
42 seats Canada East - population 670,000 (75% Francophone population)
42 seats Canada West - population 480,000
The equal representation as outlined in the Act was advantageous to the people of Canada West as it had a disproportionately large number of seats in the legislature. By the 1850's, many people immigrated from the British Isles to Canada West. This change the demographics to 950,000 in Canada West and 890,000 in Canada East. With this change, the people of Canada West sought representation by poulation because of the discrepency between the origional mandate outlined in the Act of the Union.
As the language and culture issues became more evidend between the English Protestants in Canada West and the French Catholics of Canada East, many goverment funding decisions and other issues that impacted the survival of the French culture were met with political deadlock. This stalemate made it challenging to pass laws that satisfied everyones needs. The English wanted to make sure that the French did not have too much power, while the French were worried that the loss of their language rights outline in the Act of the Union would result in the demise of their language and culture.
In 1864, the Charlottetown Conference was held. Representatives from Canada West, Canada East, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick attended to discuss the posibiltity of uniting all of British North America. Over the next 3 years, an agreement was achieved and became official in 1867 as the British North America Act (Canadian Constitution).
Representation in 1967:
Ontario - 82
Quebec - 65
Nova Scotia - 15
New Brunswick - 15
More details on represntation since 1867 can be found at The House of Commons and Its Members.
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canada-west
1.5: Making Laws