Preview

Canada Interest Groups

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2390 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Canada Interest Groups
Interest Groups: 15.3.2013

Globalization occurring at rapid speeds is having vast affects on the Canadian political system. The strong emergence and growing influence of interest groups, gained through institutionalization and immense monetary funding have proven to become a direct threat to political parties in the modern age. This essay will primarily discuss, “Pressure Groups: Talking Chameleons” written by Paul Pross. Following, the analysis of the article, “Wilderness Politics in BC: The Business Dominated State and the Containment of Environmentalism” written by Jeremy Wilson. And finally, discuss and evaluate the vital contents of both
…show more content…
Electronic media has proven to be a large contributor in the sense that it has created an environment encouraging public participation and the notion of making groups less dependent on bureaucracies. This resulting in a diffusion of power, granting more influence to the public sector. Prior to the emergence of these interest groups, political parties were the main vehicle enabling citizens to channel their concerns mainly by elections and enabling communication to and from the government. Political parties alone would not suffice to account for the entire populations aggregated demands and thus governments continue to further support pressure groups to battle the constant problem of communication. Interest groups simply emerged as individuals acting together and attempting to influence public policy in the direction of their common interests. In some cases what originated as little organizations has now emerged into influential contributors to the policy making process. This raising concern that the Canadian democratic system is …show more content…
Another factor making the political party inferior is its longstanding values, territorial basis restricting it from expansion since political parties aim to accomplish control of legislative. Hence since the legislature is based on a territorial perimeter, the rest of the political party body must follow in this direction. In contrast to some interest groups, political parties have not fully been able to achieve a system which incorporates the public into the policy making process. Pross questioned whether the fragmentation of the political parties endangers long-standing institutions, or if this merely is the politics of the new age. Canada has witnessed the emergence of a new public philosophy “pluralism” started taking the place of the previous representative parliamentary democracy. Pluralism emphasizes the collaboration between government and interest groups. Ideally members of private groups exchange ideas and negotiate with government civil

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Government and political entities are believed to be heroes of the people. They only do good, and have no vendetta for themselves. However, this utopian way of thinking is unrealistic, and not representative of the convoluted process of policy-making and forward motion. Interest groups are a key component of change, and using direct lobbying, they attempt to create reform every day. Tom Woods in his “Our Wise Overlords Are Just Here to Serve Us” speech, and the textbook, help us explain how lobbying from these groups can influence politics and be effective in its process.…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Texas Political Culture

    • 4533 Words
    • 19 Pages

    Government, Politics, and Public Policy: A policymaking system is a set of institutions and activities that link together government, politics, and public policy. In a democratic society, parties, elections, interest groups, and the media are key linkage institutions between the preferences of citizens and the government’s policy agenda. When people confront government officials with problems they expect them to solve, they are trying to influence the government’s policy agenda. A government’s policy agenda changes frequently: if public officials want to get elected, they must pay attention to the problems that concern…

    • 4533 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Pluralist structure illustrates power as the aftermath of the collection of different interest groups haggling for the lead in the political process arena, which would include the policy making process that involves the dispersing of resources in communities. Pluralists theorist envision the state as a system that maintains consistent influence and protects the positions with in and of the political process exclusively as they engage availability to the anatomy of government. The state also protects who is chosen to office, and manages stability throughout communities. For Pluralist theorists power is distributed throughout the population of single voters who they claim have equal access to dominate with in their individual votes. Pluralist make the accusations that no one particular interest group dominates. The argue that these different interest groups are composed of different organizations with a variation of different interest, objectives and leadership and how they believe power is not concentrated. That in essence explains what and how pluralist structure of government thinks and works.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Unsettling Canada

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Arthur Manuel’s Unsettling Canada, A National Wake Up Call is absolutely inspiring and a must read for all Canadians as they go through the discoveries of colonization policies, legislations and unfair treatment of Indigenous land and peoples. This book completely resonated with me as I feel the necessity to settle Indigenous title and rights has been long overdue and the imperative requirement for all to live lightly on the land. Unsettling Canada has substantial value as a pertinent text worth examining based on both past and present grassroots organizations who take action for Indigenous sovereignty and rights.…

    • 613 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    With different political party systems there can be very different outcomes when it come to the satisfaction of voters with their political parties. The difference between Canada’s multiparty system and America’s two-party system is an unmistakable illustration of this. In this essay I will demonstrate how Canada’s representative democracy is better than America’s with respect to the number of political parties in each system because in America; fewer voters’ opinions are covered and politicians are attempting to win a greater percentage of votes at an expense.…

    • 2292 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Responsible government is to Canada what apple pie and exceptionalism must be to the United States: the identity of the nation is built into its ideal, but probe deeper than the crust and the whole façade crumbles. Convoluted metaphors aside, this section will substantively address how responsible government and Parliamentary democracy – as Canadian tenets, of course, but ones borne from the UK – are unable to provide a singular objective definition of modern committees. Contrary to public mythologies, empowered committees are neither constitutionally, theoretically, or historically based in Canada – and, worse still in terms of analysis, the committee structure is unique, and largely both an ambiguous and modern transmutation. Since Canadianized…

    • 1129 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Government efficiency is dependent on the capacity of the government to make decisions that mirror the views of the majority. This would require municipal representatives to be elected by at least half of the voters. This has not been the case in Canada. Electoral reform has been a highly debated issue throughout Canadian politics. Currently, Canada’s electoral system is being questioned for its inability to reflect the political views of its citizens. The single member plurality system (SMP), which Canada employs to fabricate a democratic election, can cause representatives to be elected without the majority of the popular vote. In contrast, the system of proportional representation eliminates an inequity in parliament composition by ensuring representation from every party that received votes. Although this system would inevitably result in minority governments,…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Conservatism in Canada

    • 2688 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Whether or not the Conservative party will secure another majority government in the 2015 elections is a question occupying everyone's mind. There are, of course, arguments to support both the possibilities yet the debate seems to be lopsided. The Canadian Conservatism as well as the Conservative party is bound to fail, eventually, at replacing the Liberal party in its role as the federal level governing party of Canada. There are certain factors at play that suggest the Conservative party can not cut the mustard in this race. It has been apparent over time that the successes of the Conservative party are owed to the shortcomings of the Liberals rather than actual popularity of the Conservatives. Moreover, the core values of the Conservative party are in contrast with the increasing Canadian social democracy as well as the current trend of and move towards liberalization. Maneuvering from these values may very well cost the party their key supporters and players. Furthermore, based on the trends of their popularity, it seems fair to state that the Conservative party is finding it hard to uphold a strong and certain standing.…

    • 2688 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mainstream political parties such as the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party of Canada have dominated the political scene for many years. [6] Minority political parties such as the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP), the Bloc Quebecois and the Green Party although attract supporters, it is difficult for these parties to obtain power in the parliament because of the structure of the Canadian electoral system. The electoral system plays a great part towards the dissatisfaction of the political parties by the general public for the reasons that it advantages the main political parties and disadvantages the minority parties from a fair representation. Canada practices the “single member plurality” also known as the “first past the post” electoral system in both federal and provincial elections. [7] This type of an electoral system allows the leader of the political party with the most votes to form a government; [8] thus allows the candidate from a party in a constituency to win even if he or she does not attain 50 percent of the votes.…

    • 1174 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This paper will discuss what interest groups are and the role that interest groups play in American politics and why it is important. Another thing that this paper will discuss is how interest groups have influenced American elections. American elections have been influenced with direct and indirect strategies to get a candidate elected. They have also been influenced wit the use of information. The direct strategies used where more in your face and out for everyone else to know about and where very effective. While the indirect strategies used may have been hidden and in the shadows they were also effective. The use of information was helpful to put things out into the world and it was also there to help the candidate that was being supported by the interest group gain popularity and/or publicity. Towards the end of the paper the role of interest groups and how they have influenced American elections should be understood.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Syrian Refugees Crisis

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The interactions a politician or political leader has with the media is of crucial importance in Canadian political culture, especially in the present day where the rise of new media, particularly social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, play such a large part in educating voters on election issues and creating a sense of greater democratic involvement. For any government or political party, positive press is important. How ideas are communicated to the public and how these ideas are perceived is another essential part of effective political leadership. In the 2015, Trudeau was able to use his personal celebrity and the constant coverage of him in the media to the party’s…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Major Interest Groups

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Interest groups are classified according to varying degrees of missions and memberships. Some raise a single issue; others represent the interests of professional organizations or associations, while still others are strongly advocates public interests. Moreover, depend on their concerns, interest groups also range in size from millions of members to only several dozen. Due to these many complex wants and needs, thousands of organized interest groups exist in United States to exert their influence with the government; some wield enormous power whilst many have limited clout. In U.S, the major interest groups can be listed as: Economic interest groups, Noneconomic Groups and Religious interest groups.…

    • 1155 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In life it is important to develop an understanding of political parties. Political parties began in the United States and we now consider them an essential part of democracy. Parties serve five basic functions in a political system. First, they allow a method of communication between citizens and their government. Through communication, citizens are informed of the processes of government and politics, and also receive information regarding political issues. Next, parties provide representation of the citizens to the government. Third, parties provide interest articulation, in which citizens can identify their feelings on particular issues that are important to them, but not necessarily the rest of the population. Fourth, political parties are the sole means of aggregating these issues into larger categories, which can then be expressed to the government in a logical and persuasive form. Finally, political parties are the only sector of society in which political leaders are selected and recruited, to later be voted for or against by the public…

    • 2445 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Limits of Policy-Making

    • 1944 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In today’s society, policy makers face many limitations in the policy-making process. The biggest limitation to date is the ever-increasing pluralistic values inherent in society. A pluralistic approach can be defined as “different groups… in society are divided by ideology, economic and cultural factors; all seeking to have their interests reflected in public policy”1 These competing interests from such groups as politicians, interest groups and the media play a big role in the outcomes of policy making. Other important factors in the limitations of policy-making include the short time horizon that politicians have to pass policy, as well as the unequal distribution of wealth; where the elite groups in society have the most financial and social clout, and therefore the most influence on the policy-making process. This essay will continue to describe the aforementioned limitations on policy makers, as well as discuss whether or not these limitations are necessary and/or functional; whether or not they serve a useful purpose or any particular interests; and whether or not they are a hindrance or help to effective, honest and meaningful policy-making.…

    • 1944 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Pressure Groups

    • 1594 Words
    • 7 Pages

    According to Duncan Watts, a pressure group can be an organized group that seeks to influence government policy or protect or advance a particular cause or interest. They can also be described as ‘interest groups’, ‘lobby groups’ or ‘protest groups.’ Some people avoid using the term ‘pressure group’ as it can mistakenly be interpreted as meaning the groups use actual pressure to achieve their aims, which does not necessarily happen. The term pressure group has a very broad definition that does not clearly distinguish between the groups that fall under the term. For example, In Britain we see a pressure group can be a huge organisation like the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), which represents 150,000 businesses, and it can also be a single-issue locally based organisation like CLARA (Central Area Leamington Resident’s Association), which represents less than 300 households campaigning to preserve and improve the town of Leamington Spa. The definition also does not distinguish between the more extreme pressure groups such as the Animal Liberation Front, whose campaigns include the illegal activities such as planting bombs, and the pressure groups such as the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), which has links to the Labour government and regular contact with cabinet ministers. (Richard Kimber, Jeremy Richardson, Pressure Groups in Britain) Pressure Groups are particularly different from Political Parties in a way that parties seek representation and power whereas groups in the main seek political influence. Parties often focus on the national interest whereas groups may be concerned with sectional issues/single issues. There are two types of pressure groups. The Sectional Interest Groups which represents common interests of a particular section of society membership is often closed/restricted sectional groups seek to represent the majority of their particular…

    • 1594 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays