Poli 305 - BC polítics 1 - Political culture and parties

  1. who was the first governor of BC? who is the lieutenant-governor in BC now? and who is the leader of the official opposition today?
    • 1. BC's first governor was James Douglas
    • 2. The lieutenant-governor in BC is Judith Guichon
    • 3. The leader of the official opposition is John Horgan
  2. How many MP's learn new in the Legislature for a party to have official party status?
    4 : since Andrew Weaver is the only Green Party MP in the legislature, the Green Party does not have official party status.
  3. When was the last BC election?
    May 2013
  4. What are the four general steps in the formation of a new government in BC?
    • 1. The parties choose their leaders
    • 2. The voters vote for the party
    • 3. The legislature ratifies or verifies that that party can lead
    • 4. The Lieutenant Governor asks them to form a government
  5. What is political culture? (5)
    • 1. The kinds of ideas and practices people have with regards to politics. BC has had an active debate between right and left whereas Alberta has had one party
    • 2. How people feel about the relationship between the state and society
    • 3. The processes and structures in politics: how parties are formed, the electoral system and campaigns
    • 4. Political institutions. Canadian institutions are different than other countries. The legislature is the main institution
    • 5. What people think about First Nations
  6. What are the origins of political culture in BC? (4)
    • The conflict between right and left begin in the first British settlements.
    • 1. trade came across the Rockies from the Hudson Bay Company
    • 2. 1850 there were investments in resources such as coal mines and in
    • 3. 1851 there was a major strike
    • 4. In the 1800 the Industrial Revolution was happening in Britain and when they migrated to BC in the 19th century they brought the British class system with them including strong labor unions
  7. When did BC become a province in Canada
  8. What were the two characteristics of the Conservatives in early BC history? (3)
    • 1. The felt that they were members of the elite and thought they were better at governing
    • 2. They also felt that they had a responsibility to make sure society was governed well
    • 3. They saw a reciprocal relationship between the elites and the masses which was known as social conservatism
  9. What were the three major influences on early British Columbia political culture?
    • 1. The British class system
    • 2. Labor unions from United States
    • 3. The party system from central Canada
  10. What is a characteristic of new immigrants?
    New citizens are always more likely to vote then the next generation
  11. What were 5 significant changes in BC after WWII?
    • 1. After world war 2 the focus went from material security to uninterupted prosperity and people begin to think beyond their basic needs. (Post materialism)
    • 2. to during the war research of rubber tires was done and after the war rubber tires for used in the logging industry in BC and therefore expanded the forward assist industry dramatically. Heavy logging trucks could now go long distance down gravel roads
    • 3. The rise of feminism in the 1950s saw women elected to Parliament.
    • 4. The rise of Human Rights. there was a realization of the consequences of ethnic hatred
    • 5. The renewed interest in environmental issues
  12. Describe 3 aspects of modernization that occurred in BC after 1945?
    • 1. Urbanization: Canada ceased to be a predominantly agricultural society, and became an urbanized one. mechanization replaced labor on the farms and farmers sons and daughters move to the cities
    • 2. Education: 1950s and 1960s there was a dramatic increase in the level of education people were receiving. rapid expansion of universities after world war 2
    • 3. Communications: advancement in the exchange of ideas change political culture
  13. What are the three aspects that are continuing to change political culture today?
    • 1. Polarization: business vs labor - conflict between right and left
    • 2. Feminism: the number of women in the provincial legislature what is the success rate? how many cabinet ministers are there that are women? How many deputy ministers? There has been much changed but women are not yet equal
    • 3. The environment: resistance to Kinder Morgan pipeline as well as Northern Gateway. We all use oil or natural gas. BC has had a big role in environmental politics
    • 4. Immigration, post materialism, education all have impacts on the political culture
  14. What are political parties?
    Private organizations that are not part of government which have the ambition to gain control of government by peaceful democratic means
  15. What is the difference between political parties and lobby groups?
    Political parties want to gain control of government through democratic means and lobby groups want to gain control of government through influence but not democratic means
  16. What are three ways in which political parties try to get their ideas across and mobilize the voters?
    • 1. Aggregation and articulation : they try to find out what people are thinking agregate: collect and bring together ideas. they put these ideas into a platform and
    • Articulate: present these ideas to the public
    • 2. Political communication: historically done in town hall meetings. now they get their information from public opinion polls
    • 3. Media distribution: television / radio / social media.
  17. When a party wins an election how do they form government?
    When they form government the party organization becomes part of the government apparatus and political parties stuff government
  18. When did political parties begin in British Columbia And which parties were there ?
    1903 - servative and liberals, but they did not differ too much. They had links to the national parties.
  19. What was the Independent Labour Party?
    An assortment of different parties that tried to prevent a workers flash unionist idea about politics, but they were not very successful. this was before the rise of the CCF in the 1930s.
  20. What is the CCF and what events led to their formation? (4)
    • 1. Coorperative Commonwealth Federation was a result of the Great Depression.
    • 2. They blamed capitalism and people on the political left begin to organize.
    • 3. 1932 Calgary conference farmers from the prairies felt that the system does not support them.
    • 4. 1933 in Regina CCF was formalized.
  21. When did the CCF become important in BC?
    Immediately after their formation in 1933 they became an important political party in BC and in 1935 the CCF forms the official opposition and challenge the status quo
  22. What happened in the 1940s do to polarization?
    From 1945 to 1952 the Liberals and Conservatives formed a coalition to oppose the CCF, but there were tensions in this coalition. This era led to the sharp divide of BC into right and left.
  23. What significant event happened in the 1952 election?
    The liberal and conservative coalition wanted to hold an election in 1952 which would decide who the dominant part of the coalition was. They introduced the preferential ballot where voters would decide on their first second third preferences and so on. they thought it would work to their advantage as people would choose liberal or conservative first and second and the CCF would not be able to compete. They didn't realize that people were going to put the Social Credit as their second choice and therefore the Social Credit who were a minor party won the election.
  24. When was the Social Credit Party formed and what were the circumstances that led to their creation?
    1934 conference in Calgary. Proposed by major Douglas a Scottish engineer who critique the capitalist system. Said that governments needed to give a social credit to the people in order to offset a missing elements in society. Bible bill in Alberta began to promote the idea and it took off.
  25. What was unique about them Social Credit win in 1952?
    They won without having a leader and so they had a Leadership Conference and chose WAC Bennett
  26. From what years was WAC Bennett in power?
    1952 to 1972
  27. What happened to the BC Liberals in the election of 1972?
    The BC Liberals continue to exist in the 1960s but in the election of 1972 the NDP won the election and the liberal members joined the Social Credit Party
  28. What years were the Social Credit Party in power?
    • From 1952 to 1972
    • then from 1975 to 1991
  29. When did Bill VanDerZalm become the leader of the Social Credit Party?
  30. What major events led to the return of the Liberal Party
    When the CBC did not invite the BC Liberals to the debate, Gordon Wilson threatens to sue the CBC. During the debate the NDP and the Silk Roads going at each other in Gordon Wilson looked at the camera and says this is what you're going to get if you vote for them. even though they didn't win the election that year they won many seats and became important again. The BC Liberals consequently swallowed up socreds
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Poli 305 - BC polítics 1 - Political culture and parties
Poli 305 - BC polítics 1 - Political culture and parties.txt