Canadian History

2. Canadian History • 1000 Vikings Explore • 1497 John Cabot claimed Cape Breton Island for Henry VII of England • 1609 Cuper's Cove in Conception Bay, Newfoundland • 1763 Ceded most of its colonies • 1867 Constitution act of 1867 • 1914 Entered WWI

3. Canadian History cont. • 1919 Joined League of nations • 1931 Statue of Westminster • 1939 Entered WWII • 1969 Saturday mail delivery in Canada was eliminated by Canada Post • 1982 Canada Act of 1982 • 1997 Clarity Act • 2003 Reform and PC Parties merge to form Conservative Party of Canada

4. Canada Demographics • Population: 33,212,696 • 0-14 years: 16.3% • 15-64 years: 68.8% • 65 years and over: 14.9% • Annual population growth 0.83% as of 2008 • Life expectancy • Male-78.65 years • Female-83.81 years • Literacy rate 99% (male and female); age 15 and over can read and write • Unemployment rate 5.6% • Religion: 42.6% Roman Catholic 23.3%Protestant 4.4% Christian

5. Canada Demographics Cont. • - 2006 Census - • 21% English • 15.8% French • 15.2% Scottish • 13.9% Irish • 10.2% German • 5% Italian • 4% Chinese • 3.6% Ukrainian • 3.5% First Nations • one third identified as "Canadian. • 16.2% of the population belonged to non-aboriginal visible minorities.

6. Canada Geography • Total Area: 9,984,670 sq km (6,204,186 sq mi) • Somewhat larger than the U.S. • Borders US 8,893 km (5,525 mi) • Climate: temperate in south; sub-arctic and arctic in north • Terrain: mostly plains with mountains in west and lowlands in southeast

7. Canadian Provinces & Territories • Alberta • British Columbia • Manitoba • New Brunswick • Newfoundland and Labrador • Northwest Territories • Nova Scotia

8. Canadian Provinces & Territories Cont. • Nunavut • Ontario • Prince Edward Island • Québec • Saskatchewan • Yukon

9. Provinces and territories • Canada is a federation composed of ten provinces and three territories; in turn, these may be grouped into regions. Provinces have more autonomy than territories. • The provinces are responsible for most of Canada's social programs (such as health care, education, and welfare) and together collect more revenue than the federal government, an almost unique structure among federations in the world. Using its spending powers, the federal government can initiate national policies in provincial areas, such as the Canada Health Act; the provinces can opt out of these but rarely do so in practice.

10. Provinces and territories Cont. • All provinces have unicameral, elected legislatures headed by a Premier selected in the same way as the Prime Minister of Canada. Each province also has a Lieutenant-Governor representing the Queen, analogous to the Governor General of Canada. The Lieutenant-Governor is appointed on the recommendation of the Prime Minister of Canada, though with increasing levels of consultation with provincial governments in recent years.

11. Federal-provincial relations • The provinces are considered co-sovereign; sovereignty of the provinces is passed on, not by the Governor General or the Canadian parliament, but through the Crown itself. This means that the Crown is "divided" into eleven legal jurisdictions; into eleven "Crowns" - one federal and ten provincial. • Federal-provincial (or intergovernmental, formerly Dominion-provincial) relations is a regular issue in Canadian politics: Quebec wishes to preserve and strengthen its distinctive nature, western provinces desire more control over their abundant natural resources, especially energy reserves; industrialized Central Canada is concerned with its manufacturing base, and the Atlantic provinces strive to escape from being less affluent than the rest of the country.

12. Federal-provincial relations Cont. • the federal government makes payments to less wealthy Canadian provinces to equalize the provinces' "fiscal capacity" — their ability to generate tax revenues. This is known as transfer (equalization) payments • The richer provinces often favor freezing transfer payments, or rebalancing the system in their favor, based on the claim that they already pay more in taxes than they receive in federal government services, and the poorer provinces often favor an increase on the basis that the amount of money they receive is not sufficient for their existing needs.

13. Senate (105) Upper house “Red Chamber” Appointed by the governor with advice by P.M. Prime ministers normally choose members of their own parties to be senators 30 years of age (min) 1/5th the cost of the House of Commons Average age 65 Many Senators have more than one job Each district of Canada receive 24 senators Canadian Parliament

14. Canadian Parliament cont. • House of Commons (308) • Lower house • Elected by popular vote (single member, “first past the post”) • Serve 5 year terms • Country divided into electoral districts with each getting a seat • Most bills originate in HC

15. Quebec • Given the province's heritage and the preponderance of French (unique among the Canadian provinces), there is an ongoing debate in Canada regarding the status of Quebec and its people (wholly or partially). • Prior attempts to amend the Canadian constitution to acknowledge Quebec as a 'distinct society' – referring to the province's uniqueness within Canada regarding law, language, and culture – have been unsuccessful; however, the federal government under prime minister Jean Chrétien would later endorse recognition of Quebec as a distinct society. • The Quebec sovereignty movement (French: Movement souverainiste du Québec) is a political movement aimed at either attaining independent statehood (sovereignty) or some degree of greater political autonomy

16. Meech Lake Accord (1987)

17. Canadian Government • “Her Majesty's Government in Canada” • A constitutional monarchy that is also a parliamentary democracy and a federation • Queen Head of State • Queen Elizabeth II; sovereign and head of state; gives “repository” to executive power, judicial and legislative

18. Executive Branch • Prime Minister: Stephen Harper (22) • Prime Minister Head of Government • Appointed by the governor general

19. Executive Cont. • Queen appoints Governor General; selected on advice of prime minister • Governor General: Michaëlle Jean • Governor General has no term limit; representative of the queen • Governor General elects his “Ministers of the Crown”

20. Government departments and structure • Significant departments include Finance, Revenue, Human Resources and Skills Development, National Defense, Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and Foreign Affairs/International Trade.

21. Prime Minister • Office is not outlined in any document in the Constitution • Executive authority is formally vested in Canadian Sovereignty • British prime minister ship, although fully developed by 1867, was not formally integrated into the British constitution until 1905 • Prime Minister is the head of the Political party that holds the most seats in the house of Commons

22. Governor General • Head of State of Canada • Michaëlle Jean is the holds the current office • The monarch appoints the Governor General on the advice of the Canadian Prime Minister, after which the Governor General maintains direct contact with the monarch. • There is no specific term.

23. Bill of Rights • The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (also known as The Charter of Rights and Freedoms or simply the Charter) is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada • the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982. • guarantees certain political and civil rights of people in Canada from the policies and actions of all levels of government

24. Bill of Rights cont. • The Charter was preceded by the Canadian Bill of Rights, which was enacted in 1960 • One of the most notable effects of the adoption of the Charter was to greatly expand the scope of judicial review, because the Charter is more explicit with respect to the guarantee of rights and the role of judges in enforcing them than was the Bill of Rights.

25. Judiciary • Has the power to strike down laws that violate the Constitution • Nine members are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice. • All judges at the superior and appellate levels are appointed after consultation with non-governmental legal bodies • Common law prevails everywhere except in Quebec, where civil law predominates

26. Judiciary Cont. • The Court system of Canada is made up of many courts differing in levels of legal superiority and separated by jurisdiction. Some of the courts are federal in nature while others are provincial or territorial. • Almost all cases, whether criminal or civil, start in provincial courts and may be eventually appealed to higher level courts. The quite small system of federal courts only hear cases concerned with matters which are under exclusive federal control, such as immigration.

27. Foreign relations and military • Canada and the United States share the world's longest undefended border, co-operate on military campaigns and exercises, and are each other's largest trading partners. Canada has nevertheless maintained an independent foreign policy, most notably maintaining full relations with Cuba and declining to participate in the Iraq War. • Strong attachment to the British Empire and Commonwealth in English Canada led to major participation in British military efforts in the Second Boer War, the First World War, and the Second World War. Since then, Canada has been an advocate for multilateralism, making efforts to resolve global issues in collaboration with other nations.[40][41] Canada joined the United Nations in 1945 and became a founding member of NATO in 1949.

28. Foreign relations and military Cont. • During the Cold War, Canada was a major contributor to UN forces in the Korean War and founded the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in cooperation with the United States to defend against aerial attacks from the Soviet Union. • Canada has played a leading role in UN peacekeeping efforts. • In February 2007, Canada, Italy, Britain, Norway, and Russia announced their funding commitments to launch a $1.5 billion project to help develop vaccines they said could save millions of lives in poor nations, and called on others to join them.

29. Foreign relations and military Cont (2) • One of the most unique aspects of Canadian foreign policy is the high level of freedom the provinces have to operate internationally. • Provinces have always participated in some foreign relations, and appointed agents-general in the United Kingdom and France for many years, but they cannot legislate treaties. The French-speaking provinces of Quebec and New Brunswick are members of la Francophone, and Ontario has announced it wishes to join. Quebec, ruled primarily by separatist governments since 1976, has pursued its own foreign relations, especially with France. Alberta opened an office in Washington D.C. in March 2005 to lobby the American government

30. Economy • Canada is one of the world's wealthiest nations, with a high per-capita income, and is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Group of Eight. Canada is a mixed market,[58] ranking lower than the U.S. but higher than most western European nations on the Heritage Foundation's index of economic freedom. • Canada closely resembles the U.S. in its market-oriented economic system, pattern of production, and high living standards. As of October 2007, Canada's national unemployment rate of 5.9% is its lowest in 33 years.

31. Economy Cont. • Canada is one of the few developed nations that are net exporters of energy.[2] Atlantic Canada has vast offshore deposits of natural gas and large oil and gas resources are centred in Alberta. The vast Athabasca Tar Sands give Canada the world's second largest reserves of oil behind Saudi Arabia.[62] In Quebec, British Columbia, Newfoundland & Labrador, New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba, hydroelectric power is a cheap and clean source of renewable energy. • Economic integration with the United States has increased significantly since World War II. The Canada-United States Automotive Agreement in 1965 opened the borders to trade in the auto manufacturing industry. The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement of 1988 eliminated tariffs between the two countries, while North American Free Trade Agreement expanded the free trade zone to include Mexico in the 1990s . Canadian nationalists continue to worry about their cultural autonomy as American television shows, movies and corporations are omnipresent.

32. Economy Cont. (2) • Since 2001, Canada has successfully avoided economic recession and has maintained the best overall economic performance in the G8.Since the mid-1990s, Canada's federal government has posted annual budgetary surpluses and has steadily paid down the national debt.