Canadian Politics Essay Example for Free

Canadian Politics Essay Some historical theorists say that the dissimilarities between America and Canada are established in the Revolution of America, a subject that dominated most studies in the history of Canadian. With the creation of the US, the core founders of the US supported republicanism, refusing the Westminster structure of parliamentary democracy. Republicanism that inspired Americans pressured independence, an aversion to corruption, and innovation, counterbalanced by an apparent need for loyalty to public duty. Many Americans in planning a unique American path, freighted, and therefore refusing, a sturdy nation, which is central government. This paper looks into the different ways to which the Canadian political structures differs with those of the US. America and Canada are both governed under constitutions; Canadas constitution is partly conventional and partly written, and that of the US fully codified. The ultimate interpreter of the constitutions of both countries is their own supreme courts. Nevertheless, the High Court of the US has a more stretched history of constitutional implementation than the High Court of Canada. Canada’s Constitution contains of Acts of both the legislature of the UK and the National Assembly of Canada, but because of the Canadas federalism, several Acts of regional parliaments like the lawmaking Assembly of Ontario. The Constitution was altered in 1982, at which the Canadian Charter of Rights, Freedoms and amending formulas were included. The other one basic concept on these differences is the dissimilarity between the US congressional system and the Canadian parliamentary system. More differences occur from the legal/political perception of division of powers and the authority of the head of state. The President of the US is the head of government and head of state, while Canada’s Prime Minister is not head state but only head of government (Charlton, 1998). Another distinction is the Governor General and his or her cabinet ministers- also playing roles as legislators, represent the combination of power in Canada’s system, with the part of the monarch. Ministers of the crown are normally directly elected by their respective electorates known as ridings who advise the monarch or the Vice Governor General on how to practice his Crown authority and as Members of the legislature in the Canadian House of Commons. Even though neither the Governor general nor monarchs are lawfully required to select his or her cabinet Members from the House. This indicates those in charge of executive duties also contribute as legislators in the policy discussions and lawmaking process features of their duties as Members of National Assembly. By contrast, the US president has no official duty as a legislator, but only implementing and enforcing laws passed by Congress. The President of the US contributes in only informal, occasional, gatherings with Senators and Representatives. Only formally, addresses once in a year in the two term of his Presidency the gathered houses of the Congress, the Cabinet, and the Justices of the High Court of the US (James, 2004). The checks and balances in Canada are very opposite from those in the US, it can be debated that within Canada that the Prime Minister has additional authority than the US President. Canadas executive and legislative branch draw from each other, the viceroy hardly uses their powers without the consent of the Prime Minister. This only occurs from situations brought on by constitutional crisis. To ensure the firmness of government, the Governor must always select for his Prime Minister a member who has the biggest group of followers in the Canadian Common House. The Prime Minister must resign or order the General to call for an emergency election or be forced out by the governor general if a big number of the house vote against the government on serious matters of the country. The Prime Minister of a marginalized government is in a much dangerous situation than any United States president, which his presidency term is secured by the law. Often times of cohabitation are also there in the US known as divided government. Happens when different group than the White house directs congress. The President has incomplete control over the members of the House and must regularly make deals for there support. This leads to a stalemate that greatly slows down the law-making process (Charlton, 1998). It is known that the lack of individual identity which characterizes the resulting efficacy of the combined policy activity of the individuals participating in, and influencing the progression of, the US separation-of-powers system in contrast to the personal identity that characterizes the resulting efficacy of the aggregate policy activity of individuals participating in, and influencing the progression of, the Canadian fusion-of-powers system that truly makes this distinction meaningful. An example (putting federalism aside, arguendo) would be the one political actor in Canada responsible for motivating national defense policy decisions for Canada, the Minister of National Defense, contrasted with three(the Secretary of Defense, and the two chairs of the Senate Committee on Armed Services and House Committee on Armed Services) sometimes adverse political actors responsible for the direction of national defense policy Centralization of power in Canada has some benefits and legal responsibility when matched with the United State system. A good line of authority/power showing to whom the government is accountable for any particular duty Unlike the U. S. (James, 2004). There is also the issue of political parties whereby the Canadian House of Commons has seats for four political parties while US has only two political parties in Congress. Both Canada and the US use first post system to elect their representatives. This type of a system can sometimes exaggerate regional interests and disparities, e. g. Dixiecrats and Quebec of the southern. The meltdown of progressive Conservation party and the rise Quebecois party changed the political field in Canada. At the past only two parties dominated federal politics like the US, these parties were the Progressive Conservatives and the liberals, the Liberal held power for most of the 20th century until they were known as Canada’s natural governing party. Different from the US, Canadian third parties have always been able to get Members of parliament elected into the National Assembly since 1921, at times succeeding one of the two main parties as Her Majestys Loyal Opposition or forming casual coalition governments (Paul, 1992), In my opinion there are great differences regarding the way political cultures in Canada and the US. This is clearly shown on how the different political institutions in both countries are being managed and the structure through which these institutions are developed. Therefore, it would be appropriate for one to say that the Canadian political culture is not and has never been Americanized even though there are some aspects of similarity in other government structures References Charlton, Barker (1998). Crosscurrents: Contemporary Political Issues Edition 5. ITP Nelson, Michigan Collins, Richard. (1991). Culture, communication and national identity: The case of Canadian television. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. James Bickerton, Alain Gagnon (2004). Canadian politics. Broadview Press, New York John C. Pierce, Nicholas P,(2000). Political culture and public policy in Canada and the United States: only a border apart? Edwin Mellen Press, Michigan Paul Attallah (1992), Richard Collins and the Debate on Culture and Polity, Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol 17, No 2 Nelson Wiseman (2001) Pathways to Canadian Political Culture consensus, Retrieved on 14th March 2009 from www. ubcpress. ca/books/pdf/chapters/2007/insearchofcanadianpoliticalculture. pdf

Visual Codes and Conventions in the Painting: George Robinson Welcomes

Visual texts can be seen to be an attempt by their creators to represent particular ideologies to their viewers. It is the viewer's attitudes and values however, that determine the contemporary meaning of the image. The painting George Robinson welcomes Natives to Wybalenna, is a Colonial document portraying the Christianizing of indigenous people on Flinders Island. Visual codes and conventions employed in the image, such as positioning and framing depict the entwined values of white, patriarchal and Christian ideologies of the 19th Century. However, change in how society identifies itself, also changes the dominant ideology in its culture. Subsequently, the historical context of Post-Colonial attitudes and values in contemporary society, evoke a contemporary meaning in Robinson's painting, one of racial and religious prejudice. The convention of positioning is vital in constructing the Colonial ideology of Robinson?s image. It has the potential to provide the viewer with visual associations, which translate to language in the form of binary oppositions. For instance, the most c...

Analysis of the Play Equus Essay

With its minimalistic set design, small cast, and a stage with nearly no lighting, Peter Shaffer’s play Equus relies heavily on a masterfully written script to spread its message with the audience. The play is â€Å"neither great theatre nor bad psychology, but it has elements of both† (Witham). With the assistance of the character Martin Dysart, a child psychologist, the play analyzes the parental, religious, and sexual reasoning behind the heinous act of a sick boy (Alan Strang) and calls for Dysart (along with the audience) to question and reevaluate their ideas of passion and freedom. While the discoveries occur slowly throughout the entirety of the play the largest impact comes from interaction with Alan’s parents, Dysart’s monologues, and the climactic scene of Act II. There is no denying that the interactions with and between a child’s parents have a large impact on shaping the child’s mind and morals and who that child will ultimately become (Shumaker & Heckel, 39). Sex and religion were crucial factors in Alan’s childhood development due in no small part to the incompatibility between his parents. His mother, a Christian from an upper class â€Å"horsey† family who married beneath her, shared religion and fanciful horse stories with her son. His openly atheistic father refuses to allow his son’s religious worship explaining his own views of Christianity as â€Å"just bad sex (Equus, Location 530)†. He further implies connections between religion and sexual desire when he reports to Dysart his observations of Alan: â€Å"A boy spends night after night having this stuff read into him: an innocent man tortured to death- thorns driven into his head-nails into his hands-a spear jammed through his ribs. It can mark anyone for life, that kind of thing. I’m not joking. The boy was absolutely fascinated by all that. He was always mooning over religious pictures. I mean real kinky ones, if you receive my meaning. (Equus, Location 530)†. When his religious â€Å"fixation† was blocked, it forced Alan to transfer his â€Å"’normal’ social views of sex and worship onto his pagan, equine religion (Busiel)† . His having been denied the freedom of religion by his father and having his image of the crucifixion of Christ replaced with that of a horse’s head, is the most probably catalyst that began Alan’s strange pagan-like worship of the Horse-God Equus. As strange and twisted as Alan’s worship of horses may have seemed, Dysart could not deny the raw passion behind it-a passion he both greatly lacked and envied. In the process of understanding Alan, Dysart is forced to make a painful discovery of his self. He is stuck in a lifeless, childless marriage of â€Å"antiseptic proficiency†, â€Å"sustained only by his fascination with Ancient Greek mythology (Rooney)†. He is made aware of his hunger to be someone instinctive, passionate, and capable of being transported by worship the way Alan is (Rooney). Dysart tells the audience of a dream he had where he was a chief priest in Homeric Greece sacrificing hundreds of children as a ritual to bring good fortune to the land, with every child he begins to feel more nauseous and worried that he may be discovered. He saw Alan’s face on every victim (Equus, Location 290). One could simply deem this a nightmare and be done with it but in truth it brings to light Dysart’s fear that by curing Alan he will also be hurting him. One of the final, and arguably most powerful, scenes of the play unfolds as Dysart is finally able to draw from Alan what happened the night he blinded the horses. After a failed attempt to see a pornographic movie together Alan and Jill (one of the stable hands) returned to the stable for a â€Å"roll in the hay† at Jill’s request. Feeling the eyes of Equus upon him, Alan is unable to perform. He can see and feel nothing but Equus: â€Å"When I touched her, I felt Him†¦ When I shut my eyes, I saw Him at once†¦I couldn’t feel her flesh at all! (Equus, Location 2300)†. The ultimately unsuccessful attempt at a normal relationship with a girl causes Alan to feel not only the shame of having failed as a man but also shame from having desecrated his temple of horses. The horses’ staring eyes become unbearable. Alan and Dysart both become the voice of Equus, mocking and berating Alan both for his failure and for even attempting to escape from Equus’ eyes: â€Å"I see you. Always! Everywhere! Forever! Kiss anyone and I will see. Lie with anyone and I will see. And you will fail! (Equus, Location 2346)†. Unable to stand it anymore, Alan takes the hoof pick and stabs out the horses’ eyes with a final cry of â€Å"Thou-God-Seest-nothing  ! (Equus, Location 2364†). In his final speech, Dysart tells that he will â€Å"cure† the boy and erase all traces of Equus from his mind. He will remove Alan’s pain and give him a â€Å"normal† life. In his farewell to Alan he shows at just how high a cost normalcy comes: â€Å"You won’t gallop any more, Alan. Horses will be quite safe. You’ll save your pennies every week, till you can change that scooter for a car, and put the odd 50p on the gee-gees, quite forgetting that they were ever anything more to you than bearers of little profits and little losses. You will, however, be without pain. More or less completely without pain. (Equus, Location 2433)†. Despite the consequences, Dysart finally accepts his assigned role as a healer because all of the alternatives are unacceptable (Witham). In the end Equus leaves the audience with the question of whether satisfying the demands of those around us is worth losing important pieces of ourselves such as our passion and freedom in all its forms (religious, sexual, etc. ). True, Alan will be better once he is cured and Dysart may come to terms with his life and learn to appreciate what he has but the entire situation could have been avoided had Alan’s parents allowed him to decide rather than forcing their contrasting views on him. We can make do one way or we can thrive another.

Sympathy for Pip in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens...

Sympathy for Pip in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens problems with format Great Expectations is a novel in which each character is a subject of either sympathy or scorn. Charles Dickens implies through his use of guilt and suffering that Pip is a subject of sympathy. Frazier Russell wrote that in Great Expectations the protagonist (through his suffering and disappointment), learns to accept his station in life.( Also through Pips suffering comes the sympathy the reader feels for him. The majority of the suffering Pip is subject to in the novel is a result of the guilt he feels. As a child he suffers under an unfair burden of guilt placed on him by his sister. He also feels guilty because of his association with†¦show more content†¦People are put in the Hulks because they murder, and because they rob, and forge, and do all sorts of bad; and they always begin by asking questions. Now you get along to bed!( The guilt Pip is forced to feel by Mrs. Joe is illegitimate; that is, his own conscience makes him pay for crimes he didnt commit and for innocent actions (such as asking a question) which were twisted around to appear criminal. Mrs. Joe is not the only character who enjoys the harassment of young Pip; Pumblechook, Wopsle and the Hubbles torment him endlessly during Christmas Dinner. Pip the Narrator recalls that They seemed to think the opportunity lost if they failed to point the conversation at me, every now and then, and stick the point into me. I might have been an unfortunate little bull in a Spanish arena, I got so smartingly touched up by these moral goads.( In this scene, Wopsle and Pumblechook procede to compare Pip to the swine on the table, saying that he should be grateful he is who he is, because were he a swine he could await no better fate than to arrive on the dinner table of an ungrateful boy such as himself. When Pip looks back as an adult, he recognizes his innocence as a child and can even be amused by the absurd accusations of his tormenters. In this sense, he is separated from his past, by beingShow MoreRelatedEssay Sympathy for Pip in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens997 Words   |  4 PagesSympathy for Pip in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens For the past half term, in English, we have been spending our lessons on a novel by Charles Dickens called Great Expectations We have been concentrating on the opening Chapters as well as to understand the novel. Great Expectations is based on a boy called Pip. Pip is an orphan who lives with his cruel sister and husband Joe Smith whos a blacksmith. He is poor and lonely as his siblings unfortunately died. 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