Politics of Canada

Canada is a constitutional monarchy and a Commonwealth Realm (see Monarchy in Canada) with a federal system of parliamentary government, and strong democratic traditions. Many of the country's legislative practices derive from the unwritten practices of and precedents set by the United Kingdom's Westminster parliament; however, Canada has evolved variations. Party discipline in Canada is stronger than in the United Kingdom, and more of the votes are considered confidence votes, which tends to diminish the role of non-cabinet Members of Parliament (MPs), known as backbenchers. Backbenchers can, however, exert their influence by sitting in parliamentary committees, like the Public Accounts Committee or the National Defence Committee.

Effect of language on federal politics

One of the interesting effects of Canada being bilingual comes from the fact that the Prime Minister is usually able to speak in their second language and for many years they have been bilingual.

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The most striking example of what this can result in was when Brian Mulroney was prime minister. He often said one thing to reporters in English and something that was different and actually contradictory in French. Even those that were not bilingual (and 17% of the country is considered bilingual and many more would be able to follow a simple conversation with reporters) were made aware of this in news coverage. However for those who could actually understand the difference it was quite striking. While Brian Mulroney was best known for doing this other prime ministers have also made contradictory statements at times between their French and English comments.

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When the electorate tends to vote by ethnicity, a sizable language minority in an electorate may be either perpetually unrepresented if the remainder is a unified majority, or may perpetually hold the balance of electoral power if the remainder is politically divided. Coupled with the ability of a public speaker, or the media to say one thing in one language, and another thing in the other language leaves the country vulnerable in the absence of good political leadership, to electoral manipulation and political disaffection.

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