POLS 1400 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Sponsorship Scandal, Ecotax, Second Party System
8 Dec 2013
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Document Summary
Elections must be conduced free and fair . Anyone should be able to contest the election, everyone should be able to vote, every vote should be equal on election day and each province and territory should be fairly represented in hoc. Primary functions of elections is to allow the mass citizens to choose their parliamentary representatives and indirectly their governmental leaders. They also serve as legitimage function, by exercise their franchise, voters legitimize the power of those elected by agreeing to be bound by their decisions. Elections help to integrate the country by putting everyone in it through a common national expierence. Elections provide policy guidelines for authorities and a feeling of political efficacy for the voters. Question of proportionality: the extent to which representation in the house of commons reflects the wishes of the voters. Electoral process beings by dividing the country into single-member electoral districts (redistribution: involves two stages:
