Gad Horowitz
Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism in Canada: An Interpretation
The Hartzian approach
To study the new societies founded by Europe (like the USA and Canada) as
fragments thrown off from Europe
Socialism combines the corporate-organic-collectivist idea of toryism with the rationalist-
egalitarian ideas of liberalism
The absence of socialism in North America comes from the absence of toryism to
European countries
To be American is to be a bourgeois liberal
English Canada is more willing to be socialist because we are more open to toryism than
the USA
George Grant
Lament for a Nation
Discussion about conservatism versus liberalism, English Canada versus French Canada
Canada can't survive as a sovereign nation
Talks about Canada blending in the USA, when it used to be so different from it
John A. MacDonald and George-Étienne Cartier
The Confederations Debates in the Province of Canada
Legislative union didn't work, so creation of a federal government
Unlike in the USA, the representative of the Sovereign cannot take decisions on his
own
Alexander Galt
Letter from Fathers to British Colonial Secretary
How the government should be constituted:
Governor-General
Senate
House of Assembly
The constitution is managed by the government, which makes it easier to change if needed
Supreme Court of Canada (1998)
Quebec Secession Reference
Question about if Quebec has the right to unilateral secession
Jean Chrétien (1969)
The White Paper
States that the status given to Indian is different and prevents them from being true Canadians
"Canadians, Indian and non-Indians alike, stand at the crossroads"
Indians show determination that present conditions shouldn't persist
Indians are entitled to equality
The New Policy
Legislative and constitutional bases of discrimination have to be removed
Positive recognition of unique contribution of Indian culture to Canada
Same agencies for all Canadians
Furthest behind be helped most
Lawful obligations be recognized
Control of Indian lands be given to Indian people
Step to create framework
Indian Act be repealed
Provinces care for Indians as much as any other Canadian
Funds available for Indian development
Responsibilities be given to appropriate institutions
Harold Cardinal (1969)
The Unjust Society
White paper = extermination by assimilation
Indians don't believe the Canadian government anymore
Treaties have a historical value
The land of Canada belonged to Indians
"We cannot give up our rights without destroying ourselves as people"
Ladner
Up the Creek: Fishing for a New Constitutional Order
Canadian politics: always defined by debates over federalism.
Who has the responsibilities of doing what
Debate with the Mi'kmaq about who has jurisdiction over Atlantic salmon fisheries
Is it a federal, provincial, or Mi'kmaq responsibility?
Who has the authority to regulate it
In their view, the Mi’kmaq have never fished illegally in Canada; it is the Canadians who
have infringed on Mi’kmaq rights.
The forty-seventh provision of the Magna Carta established a common fishery and a public
right to fishing that could not be displaced by the Crown without the consent of Parliament.
The common right, which one individual of the whole community is entitled to enjoy
as much as another, cannot be made by law the exclusive privilege of the people of
a certain class or section upon terms and conditions that do not apply to the whole
people alike.
The provinces argued that while the federal government had legislative rights over the
fishery, provincial governments have jurisdiction over the product of the fishery under
section 92
Several provinces have argued that while the federal government has jurisdiction
over the regulation and management of the fishery ~and thus the act of fishing!, the
provinces could claim owner- ship of the caught fish. Caught fish, they argued, were
no longer held in common ~public property! but had become the private property of the fisher. As private property, caught fish were now the subject of provincial
jurisdiction ~property and civil rights!
Mik'maq argue whether Canadians have a right to fisheries
No doubt about their rights
The Magna Carta of 1215 ~1994: 337!. In Wright’s view, the forty-seventh provision of the
Magna Carta expressly prohibits the establishment of any new exclusive fisheries in public
waters
The Mi’kmaq never relinquished their territory nor their rights and responsibilities as a
nation; they merely agreed to establish relationships of peace and friendship, and to pursue
military, political and economic alliances with the British
On the one hand, the Crown has established the salmon fishery as a public fishery which,
though the subject of jurisdictional debate, is governed by both the provincial and federal
governments.
The Mi’kmaq understand these rights and responsibilities to have been recognized and
affirmed by treaties in Canadian constitutional law.
Kenneth Carty, William Cross, Lisa Young (2002)
A New Canadian Party System
Background
The constellation of parties present in the system
*see notes lecture 10*
The new system is characterized by new diversity in the societal basis, ideology, and
internal organizations of the parties that constitute it
Now
Alberta, BC, and Qc, support regionally based parties to create oppositions in their
favour
Voting for the less-bad option
Regional claims are being made within the party system, with regionally based
parties increasingly acting as rep. of regional interests in the national political arena
Democratization in parties is enhanced
Greater diversity among parties
Division between regional-based decentralist views with old central Canada
Rejection of basic characteristics of pan-Canadianism (bilingualism,
multiculturalism, and the politics of accommodation)
Different conceptions of rep.
Donald Savoie (1999)
The Rise of Court Government in Canada
Effective power rests with the PM in concert with his carefully selected courtiers
Power no longer flows from ministers, but from the PM
Court government is probably better to manage the political agenda than is cabinet
government
Janine Brodie and Jane Jenson The Party System
Modernized political systems predict that the cleavage created by religion and linguistics will
be replaced by one of social class
Thus, Canada's is not modernized
Why no social vote
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