Quantcast
Canada seems undemocratic - Blogs - Bulbagarden Forums

View RSS Feed

Dear Diary,

Canada seems undemocratic

Rate this Entry
14 Comments
by
Ferbgor
, 28th April 2012 at 07:12 PM (253 Views)
Since this is an election year in the US, I noticed that I have never heard of a Canadian election, so I asked my dad, who studied in Canada and he said that he doesn't recall there being any, but he's sure they do.

I decided to research this myself and I discovered that the Canadian Prime Minister's term length is "At her majesty's pleasure" which seems to imply that a person can be in power for as long as the Queen wants. Lieutenant Governors and Premiers are also at the pleasure of a person above them.

Inquiring minds wish to know. Does Canada have elections? Or is it like "You're doing a crappy job so I'm replacing you" or "Keep up the good work!"

Submit "Canada seems undemocratic" to Digg Submit "Canada seems undemocratic" to del.icio.us Submit "Canada seems undemocratic" to StumbleUpon Submit "Canada seems undemocratic" to Google

Categories
Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Mako's Avatar
    The elections are handled by a commission of the following people.

    1. The Minister of Magic
    2. Gandalf the Grey/White/Whatever color is in this season.
    3. The queen herself.
    4. Tony Blair
    5. A random moose chosen by lottery
    6. The current captain of the Montreal Canadiens
    7. @Evil Figment;

    Majority rules.
    Netto Azure, D. Strider and Zenax like this.
  2. Ferbgor's Avatar
    @Ratohnhaké:ton; Seems legit.
  3. No Prophet's Avatar
    does Canada actually exist? I thought they were like Narnia.
  4. Netto Azure's Avatar
    I thought Canada was America's Top-Hat or something?

    FYI yes they have elections. They had elections quite a few times actually since 2004 since the Conservatives kept on having successive minority governments. until the most recent election last year when the Conservatives finally got their working Majority government and where the Socialist NDP became the official opposition party after the Liberals got trounced down to 30 or so seats in the Canadian Parliament.
    Updated 28th April 2012 at 07:59 PM by Netto Azure
  5. Jabberwocky's Avatar
    what's canada
  6. $aturn¥oshi's Avatar
    Netto, you are such a nerd.
    Netto Azure, Mako and Froakie like this.
  7. Ferbgor's Avatar
    @Netto Azure; Are you fucking with me?
  8. Bikini Miltank's Avatar
    Yes, the Queen gets to decide when Canada has elections. She also designed the flag (she had a thing for maple syrup at the time) and gave them Newfoundland even though they didn't really want it.
    Ferbgor and Contrary like this.
  9. Contrary's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Bikini Miltank
    Yes, the Queen gets to decide when Canada has elections. She also designed the flag (she had a thing for maple syrup at the time) and gave them Newfoundland even though they didn't really want it.
    No one wanted Newfoundland. Canada's the only country that didn't say no.
    The Outrage likes this.
  10. The Outrage's Avatar
    You did fail research. Why not actually looking at the last time Canada has had an election rather than focusing on what is essentially a ceremonial role for the queen?
  11. Ferbgor's Avatar
    [QUOTE=The Outrage;bt227346]You did fail research. Why not actually looking at the last time Canada has had an election rather than focusing on what is essentially a ceremonial role for the queen?[/QUOTE]
    I failed hard, didn't I?
  12. D. Strider's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by The Man with No Name
    does Canada actually exist? I thought they were like Narnia.
    Indeed, I can still recall the time I reached Canada through a closet full of Wayne Gretzky jerseys... what an adventure that was.

    BTW, screw elections, this is how they resolve ALL political disputes in Canada:
    $aturn¥oshi likes this.
  13. $aturn¥oshi's Avatar
    How can nobody want a Newfoundland??

  14. Evil Figment's Avatar
    The Canadian Charter of Rights state that there cannot be more than five years between legislative elections in Canada.

    Since the prime minister and ministers are selected from the Members of Parliament of the party with the most seats in Parliament, this means by default that a minister has to stand election every five years at least.

    IN practice, because of electoral strategy (you start elections while your party has higher ratings), it's often been more four years than five years. And when we have a minority government (the party with the most seats in Parliament doesn't have an absolute majority of seats; the other parties put together have more seats), it's possible that a vote of no-confidence will topple the government and cause new elections even earlier than five years.

    This happened in the last few years, with elections in 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2011
    $aturn¥oshi likes this.