socials 11 government
Terms
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- "Triple E"
- Equal, Elected, Effective. Referring to Senates. Equal: same number of Senates in all provinces. Elected: no appointments by PM. Effective: Trying to give more jobs to the Senate.
- 5 parts of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
- 1. Right to life, liberty, and security 2. Right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure 3. Right not to be subjected to cruel/unusual punishment 4. Right not to be arbitrarily detained or imprisoned
- Alternative measures program
- Looking at alternative ways to deal with youths instead of jail
- Amendment
- Changes
- Attorney General
- Head prosecuter of the province (dictates policy with respect to judicial branch)
- B.N.A Act
- Canada's written Constitution. Sets out the powers of representatives, federal and provincial governments, and monarch. Laid out all rules by which our country is governed. 'Constitutional Act of 1867'
- Balloting
- People voting
- Cabinet has both ____ and ____ power
- legislative and executive
- Cabinet Minister
- Head of major/minor government departments (finance, defense, agriculture)
- Campaigning
- Advertising so people will vote for that party
- Canada has the first-past-the-post system, which means that:
- the winner of a riding may not have won the majoirity of the votes cast. He/she simply has to win more seats than any of the other candidates in the riding. *It can mean that Canada is governed by a party that most Canadians did not vote for.
- Canada only gained independence from British rule in _____
- 1931
- Caucus
- Private meetings of elected representatives (all MPs) from each political party
- Civil Law
- Civil Law cases usually involve disputes over contracts, property, or personal relationships (between individuals or groups).
- Closure
- Done by the ruling government to stop filibuster
- Committee of the Whole
- Made up of the entire HOC - for general bills when a bill is being made into law
- Common Law
- Widely accepted rules; rules of precedent
- Constition
- Set of written laws
- Constitutional monarchy
- The recognition of a monarch as head of state
- Councillor
- Local member of council
- Criminal Law
- Matters that affect society as a whole (Regina v. Scumba) Committing a wrong against society, offense against criminal code. Government charges
- Describe how government policy has changed over the last century with respect to the treatment of young offenders:
- Youths used to recieve no special treatment; sentences were harsh. Now we try to help the youth and rehabilitate them.
- Difference between indictable and summary offenses?
- Indictable offenses are more serious than summary offenses and are handled by provincial supreme courts.
- Direct democracy
- Every eligible citizen participates directly by voting in all the decisions that affected society
- Electoral Districts/Ridings
- (Constituencies). A geographic area represented by MP, represents a certain amount of people
- Enumeration
- When compiling voters list; creating a list of people who are eligible to vote
- Executive Branch
- Puts the laws into action, Make laws official: Governor General, PM, Cabinet, Public Service
- Federal elections occur at least every __ years
- 5
- Filibuster
- Protest trying to stall the debate
- Getting elected is an expensive process. Political parties pay for their campaigns by getting donations from:
- individuals and businesses
- Governor General
- Gives formal assent to a bill before it becomes law. Opens Parliament with Throne speech, which outlines what the government hopes to accomplish in the session of Parliament. Gives a short speech concluding the Parliament, declaring that it's over.
- Hansard
- Printed transcript of everything that is said in the HOC
- Head of State
- Queen, royal assent. Opens the speech and closes it
- House of Commons
- Elected representatives (MPs) who introduce, debate, and vote on bills. Representation by population
- How does a person become a prime minister?
- People vote for your party
- How is a cabinet formed?
- The PM chooses his cabinet. All provinces/regions are representatives
- Importance of the rule of law:
- 1. Disputes settled by peaceful means 2. No one is above the law 3. King John of England 1215- Magna Carta: trial by jury and habeus corpus
- Indictable offences
- Most serious offences
- Judicial Branch
- Judges/interprets/applies/enforces the laws
- Legislative Branch
- Makes Laws, amend/change laws: HOC (House of Commons)
- Lieutenant Governor
- Governor assistant. Head of state for each province.
- M.L.A
- Member of legislative assembly
- M.P.
- Member of Parliament
- Mace
- Symbol of speakers authority, must be presented at HOC meeting for the meeting to happen
- Main difference between common and statutory law?
- Statutory laws are passed in Parliament but common laws are common sense laws that are based on precedence and individual judgements.
- Majority government
- More than half the seats of the government
- Mayor
- Head of local or municipal governmnt
- Minister of State
- Head of the minor government departments
- Minority government
- Less than half th eseats of the government
- MPs are divided into ____ and ____.
- Cabinet Ministers (head of major government departments) and backbenches (no cabinet position, very little power of influence)
- Nomination
- Becoming a party representative
- Nonconfidence vote
- If the government loses a vote in the HOC, a nonconfidence vote is held. If the government loses it must resign
- Notwithstanding Clause
- Constitution Act of 1892. Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Any province of Canadian government can get out of any constitutional law. If law breaks the constitutional law, then it can still be passed.
- Official Opposition
- Party with the secondmost seats
- Party Solidarity
- When everyone in public supports a candidate
- Patronage
- A form of reward for the Senate. Giving or granting political favors in return for political support. PM able to appoint Senators. Not very ethical.
- Plaintiff
- Party who initiates a civil lawsuit. Person who brings charges against the defendant
- PM must take into account the following when choosing a cabinet:
- 1. All provinces or regions are represented 2. Ethnic/gender 3. Experience 4. Language
- Political Parties are governed by the Elections Expenses ACt of 1974. Why is it important to have rules governing election spending?
- So the candidate with more money to spend have the better advantage.. advertisement can divert attention away from the real issues
- Powers of the federal government:
- (most important) Defense, taxation, foreign policy, post office, banking, fisheries
- Powers of the Municipal government:
- City police/fire, property tax, sewers, roads, infrastructure
- Powers of the Provincial government:
- Education, Health Care (but Federal gives money for it too), Resources
- Premier
- Head of the party with the most seats
- Prime Minister
- Appoints Governor General
- Private law
- Law deals with legal rights between individuals
- Pros and Cons of restoratative justice over prison:
- Pros: Lessens amount of people in prison and helps victim and offener mentally. Cons: May not work for all offenders and some victims want to see punishment
- Public Law
- Law affecting the pulic between government organization
- Representative democracy
- Allows elected representatives to make decisions on their behalf
- Residual powers
- Any powers that are not specifically listed are held by the federal government or the crown. Leftover powers. New areas of decision making that did not yet exist or were not listed in 1867.
- Restitution
- Restoration, victim getting ompensation (usually from offender)
- Restoratative Justice
- Tries to repair the damage that has beend one. Victims, offenders, and other peopl ein the community work together to find ways for the offender to make amends directly to the victim.
- Role of the Supreme Court of Canada
- Can appeal criminal matters. (Have too much power because it may not be what the majority wants)
- Rule of precedent
- Judges reviewing past causes to help them rule on a specific case
- Senate
- Occupy the upper house, provides "sober 2nd thought" to a legislation. Appointed for life or at least until 75. Has regional representation
- Senator
- Provides 2nd opinion on legisative. Upper Seats
- Sergeant at Arms
- Carries in the mase. There to symbolically maintaint order
- Shadow Cabinet
- Follows the decisions made by Cabinet and critizes government's decisions
- Speaker of the House
- Acts as a referee during debate or question period. Chosen from elected members of Parliament.
- Standing Committee
- Made up of MPs from all parties. For department specific bills during the bill-to-law process.
- Statue Law
- Passed in Parliament, applies to all lvels of government equally (all provinces)
- Statue of Westminster
- Gave Canada full control over foreign affairs
- Summary conviction offences
- Cases that are less serious, minor offenes (littering, vandalism)
- Suspended sentence
- No jail sentence, although person is found guilty
- Tabulation
- Counting the vote
- The 3 levels of government:
- Federal, provincial, municipal
- The Canada Act (1982) consists of:
- Constitution Act 1867 (BNA Act) and the Constitution 1982 (Charter of Rgihts and freedoms, Amending Form, Notwithstanding clause)
- This group proposes the most new bills:
- Cabinet
- Two kinds of pressure groups(groups of people who seek to influence the government):
- 1. Institutionalized (well-established and have formal organization, Lobbyists) 2. Issued-oriented (Are less permanent)
- What are the two houses of Parliament (~308)?
- House of Commons and the Senate
- What feature makes the federal government unique from the provincial government?
- The federal govt has 2 legislative houses.
- What type of government does Canada have?
- A constitutional monarchy. A federal system (has two levels of government). Head of State (Queen) and Head of Government (PM)
- Whip
- Responsible for getting people out to vote. Representatives of their party are the ones "whipped"
- Who is our current prime minister?
- Steven Harper
- Why did the founders of Canada decide to create a Federal system of government?
- No provinces wanted to give up their authority completely to a central government. They made a federal system to unite the provinces.