POLS 1400 Lecture 2: Week 2: Canada – A Brief History/Regionalism and Federalism – A Political Culture
16 Dec 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
September 26, 2016
Week 2: Canada – A Brief History/Regionalism and Federalism – A Political Culture
• The Royal Proclamation 1763
o Battle between British and the French
o British won
o British established sovereignty over the aboriginals in Canada
▪ The state of aboriginals became under the british
• The Quebec Act 1774
o British thought that it was important to preserve French culture
o Formalized the arrangement that gave the French the freedom to speak their
language and also established the current Quebev civil law
• Constitution Act 1791
o Lower vs Upper Canada
▪ Upper Canada is Ontario – lower Canada is Quebec
o Loyalists
▪ After us independence, they still wanted to tbe under british rule
▪ They travelled to Canada to be under british crown
▪ “Loyal” to british crown
▪ Problem: they wanted a representative in the elective assembly
▪ Established two further groups
• Both accepted the crown as their soveriengty
• They became tories (conservatives) and “ “ (liberals)
• Durham report
o Created concept of Responsible Government
o Consititution act resulted in rebellion between upper and lower Canada
▪ Elite leaders were corrupt
o Lord durham was sent to Canada to address the conflicr
o He thought that there was too much separation in power in Canada
▪ Corrupt elites were making decisions without consulting people
o He established durham report that included responsible government
▪ In it all leaders had to be accountable for their actions
▪ And they can be voted out
o Still follow
• BNA Act 1867
o Established because of conflict between east and west Canada
o Federalist system is born
• Statute of Westminister 1931
o Ended british rule in Canada
o Gave Canada a lot of power to create our own statute, legislature, etc.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
o Diminished role of governor general
▪ Now only has role of representative of the crown
▪ Symbolic powers
• Regionalism – Western Alienation: The National Policy
o Forms of regionalism
▪ Sectionalism
▪ Seperatism
• Quebec
▪ Nationalism
• Common pride/connection to a country
• More holistic
o How Does it work?
▪ First thing John Macdonald did was stop tariffs and this was to stir the
economy in Canada
▪ Second, create a strong resource based economy
o Consequences
▪ Not a national policy, but an imperial policy
• Macdonald was a centrist politician
• His version of Canada was Ontario/Quebec axis
▪ Resource extraction from the west subsidized the “east” (Windsor –
Quebec)
▪ Railways ran only East-West, not North-South
▪ CPR fees effectively amounted to subsidization of central Canadian
industry
▪ Upshot: an imperialist rather than a national policy
o Western Political Response – Populism
▪ Political protest parties
▪ Populism
• “A belief in the ability of ordinary people to act together
politically”
• There are two extremes (left or right)
• Common themes
o Power is always held by the elite
o Elite are too powerful and corrupt
• Two strains
o Radical Populism
o Social Conservatism
▪ Preston Manninhg’s reform party 1987
• Principle of social conservatism
o Freedom of individual important
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
