Health Sciences 3400A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Parliamentary System, Lower House, Presidential System
20 Oct 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Lecture 5 Notes: Government and Policy
Objectives
• Understand how different government types impact policy-making
• Understand the role of the three branches of government and their role in making
policy
• Be able to describe how a government policy becomes a law
Types of Government Systems
• Federal System: at least two separate levels of government with shared power
o Ex. Canada
▪ Federal government cannot take away freedoms from provincial
governments
o Widely regarded as to why policy making can be difficult (hard to make
changes uniform across the country)
• Unitary System: lower levels subordinate to higher levels
o Important to remember being able to make policy change rapidly isn’t always
a good thing
• Majoritarian: candidate with most votes represents the district in parliament
o Parties will likely tailor their policies to issues that affect specific districts
• Proportional: number of seats won is equal to share of national vote
Canada’s Parliamentary System
Legislature
• Role of legislature
o Senate & HOC
o Highest decision making body in the country
• Formal functions
o Represent the people
o Enact legislation
o Oversee the executive
• Unicameral vs. Bicameral
o Unicameral: Only one house/chamber
o Bicameral: 2nd house/upper chamber exists, their job is to critique decisions
made by the first chamber
o Canada is Bicameral (HOC & Senate)
• Senate
o Senate is the upper house, 105 members are appointed by the governor
general
• House of Commons
o Lower house of elected members
o Total of 338 seats
• Legislature and Policy making
o Parliamentary system, legislature is there to hold the executive accountable
(do not initiate policy)
• Jurisdiction
o Limited by the Canadian Charter of Freedom
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