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Political Science Questions
Brokerage Politics
Political brokerage in Canada is based on social justice, which tends to cater to the rights
of everyone through peace, order, and good governance. It is the process by which political
parties build up coalitions by appealing to or trying to appeal to a wide range of interests in
society. They do so by balancing the interests of different individuals and groups. In Canada,
political parties are conciliators and mediators on cleavages that affect society directly and
indirectly (Sayers, 2008). Such cleavages include religion, age, gender, special groups, and urban
locations, among other rooted factors. Additionally, a major significance of the political
brokerage is to bind the country together by avoiding discrimination from a dictatorship form of
governance. Again, national integration is covered through this brokerage of political parties.
Royal Proclamation of 1763
It is a document issued in 1763 by King George the third to claim Britain in North
America after Britain had won the seven-year war. The aboriginal occupants prioritized land
ownership over the settlers, who could only do so by passing through the Crown. The document
set out clear guidelines on settlement. The Royal proclamation is connected to the Canadian
government, whose committee is headed by ministers of the Crown. Additionally, Canada is part
of the North American countries affected by the proclamation.
Meech Lake Accord
Several proposed political changes would be affected in the Canadian constitution in
1987. The main intention behind the amendment was to decentralize the Canadian federation by
confronting the government of Quebec on adopting the 1982 constitutional amendments. The
custodians of the amendments included the prime minister Brian Mulroney and all the 10
Canadian provincial premiers. The accord was not long-lasting as it failed in 1990 when the
provincial governments could not be approved under the prime minister Mulroney. Meech Lake
accord lacked backup from Manitoba and Newfoundland on a referendum. Therefore, the
provincial veto power was not affected, and the plan to recognize Quebec as a distinct society
failed.
Clarity Act
The agreement terms were that there would be some conditions to abide by. The house of
commons had to agree to and approve the bill, and the question had to be simple, comprehensive,
and unambiguous. Again, there had to be a clear majority in case of a future majority. Agreement
among the delegates in the house of commons had to be voted for to get to the bottom of the
deal.
Oakes Test Section
It is a test created by the Supreme court of Canada in 1986 after the law case of Oakes.
The test was deemed to explain section 1 of the Charter and how it would apply to a case. It has
ever since been used anytime a Charter has been violated. Justification of a person's charter
rights is coined under the first section, which covers reasonable limits as its name suggests.
There is room for infringement of the Charter under reasonable justification.
First Past the Post vs. Proportional Representation
The two terms are used in election matters since they represent systems of casting votes.
The two systems are used in electing a member of parliament. First past the post is a parliament
form of voting where constituency members cast their votes for their candidate of choice who
ought to represent them in parliament later in their lives for a given constitutional period. On the
other hand, proportional representation is a form of casting votes that involves voting individuals
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through the channel of political parties. Additionally, the first past the post system is stratified
into small geographical units, which are referred to as constituencies.
On the other hand, constituencies are large geographical units in which voting is exercised under
proportional representation. Again, the two systems differ in that in the first past the post (FPTP),
there is an allowance of only one candidate to be elected in a constituency (Pammett & Dornan
2016). Proportional representation (PR) has an added allowance of more than one candidate in a
constituency to be elected.
In the FPTP system, votes and political parties do not have to tally, while in PR, the
number of seats and votes cast have to be proportional. There is accountability and follow-up for
a candidate elected under the FPTP in case of office mismanagement. Contrary to the PR system,
candidates have zero accountability as governance is under political parties. In FPTP, securing
the majority votes i
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