Hello again friends, it’s Izzy back again with another blog post. While this post is not a project reflection nor a weekly update post, it still includes lots and lots of learning, so don’t worry. To start off the school year our current Canadian Prime Minister decided to call an election and therefore Ms Willemse had no option but to make government and politics our first topic. The class and I set out to answer the question, “How is the Canadian government structured and elected?” and after making notes, taking quizzes, and running a student election I think we have a pretty strong understanding of it all.

The Canadian Political Structure

Democracy boiled down to the simplest phrasing is when the public chooses people (elects politicians) to make important choices for them (to run government). Everyone has different beliefs and values so people who share similar views come together in a political party. In Canada there is many political parties, this means everyone has lots of options to choose from when they vote. Canadian government also has multiple levels; your city, your province, and your country each have their own government responsible for the tasks closest to them.

In the Federal government, the one that runs all of Canada, everyone votes within their riding (their local area) for a member of parliament to represent them. The leader at this level is called the Prime Minister and they get this position by being the leader of their political party, getting voted for in their own riding, and having their party win more seats than any other party. In parliament all the politicians representing their local areas discuss laws, rules, budgets, and other important things that need to be figured out in order for a country, province, and city to run smoothly.

Importance of Voting

In Canada everyone over the age of 18 has the right to vote so they must use it. It is the responsibility of an educated citizen to vote in all elections, not just the federal ones. Voting is such a powerful action that so many people had to fight for in the past and now there are so many people who waste that privilege. In this election there was a historically low voter turnout with only 60% of eligible Canadians coming out to vote. This lack of people participating in democracy heavily comes down to being mid-pandemic but it is concerning as it is the lowest turnout since the 1980s. Jagmeet Singh, leader of the NDP said, “This is the lowest turnout despite one of the biggest crises we’ve ever faced,” which is an alarming point. I would’ve thought after the recent chaotic elections in America where low voter turnout allow Donald Trump to become president that people would care more about their vote. Democracy works best when everyone who’s being affected gets a say, so in future elections Canadians must do better unless we want to end up with a Trump situation ourselves.

Our class ran the student vote at Seycove this year and I decided to make a prediction before, I was almost perfectly spot on. Coming into it I predicted the order would be: 1. NDP 2. Green 3. Liberal 4. Conservatives 5. PPC but the results ended up as 1. NDP 2. Liberal 3. Green 4. Conservative 5. PPC. This list gave me hope as the last student vote that took place at Seycove resulted in the PPC candidate winning, which was just embarrassing. Generation Z are paying more attention to politics and the world around us. CNBC stated that both Gen Z and Millennials are “voting generations” meaning we’re excited to take part in democracy and want to have our voices heard.

Why the election failed

The real election took place on the same day as the student vote but had a very different outcome. Trudeau called the election to hopefully get a majority government but was unable to achieve that. In fact almost all the parties stayed at the exact same number of seats they held prior to the election. NDP gained a few, the conservatives lost 1 or 2, the greens lost 1, and a few independents lost seats but that was about it. With the election costing millions of dollars and resulting in almost no change, it makes people ask why it even happened. Many Canadians are upset and frustrated that something that took so much money and time, plus risked people’s safety during the pandemic, ended up feeling pointless. I have decided to compare this election to the provincial one called last year by John Horgan in his attempt to get a majority, where he was successful.

Last fall in BC John Horgan decided to do the same thing Trudeau attempted this year. Horgan called an election mid pandemic to try and win a majority government. Biggest difference was, John Horgan and the NDP party had a great election with record breaking numbers of success, whereas Trudeau’s election saw almost no change. Horgan’s success was due to a number of different factors. First of all as a leader he is very popular, and doesn’t have many people who dislike him. He was also helped by Dr Bonnie Henry who at the time had run a very successful Covid-19 response in collaboration with the NDP government. The Green Party and Liberal party were also both at relatively low approval rates so it was a time when many people would vote NDP for the first time. The NDP knew their approval would likely be lower in a years time so they called the snap election and it worked perfectly.

The federal election Trudeau called was at a time when people were less thankful about Covid-19 responses and with issues such as vaccinations and the Delta variant, the liberals would never be able to get everyone to vote for them like the NDP did in BC. Also since the liberals are in their 6th year of power they’re starting to get less and less approval, this tends to happen when parties have power for a long time. Never the less elections are still an exciting time where people truly get to have their say in the way our country runs. I loved running the student vote and seeing how many kids actually showed interest in politics. The Canadian government is much less talked about than it’s much more popular next door neighbour, the United States, but is just as important. As a Canadian citizen I am always learning and educating myself about our political system and parties, and will do my part and vote as soon as I’m allowed.