Fall 2019 Poli 204 A course outline (under construction)

Poli 204  A/ 2019 Concordia university
Introduction to Canadian Politics
Professor Harold Chorney 
Course outline including essay topics list

Wed. 2:45-5:30 FG C070

Office hours Tuesday 4:30 to 5:30 Wed 1:30 -2:25 .

The study of Canadian politics is a complex field which draws upon a number of traditions in Canadian political science including institutionalism, political behaviour, political theory, international politics, political economy, history, judicial and constitutional history and economic history. In a broad survey course lasting a single term we can only touch upon a number of key aspects of the field. In my view some knowledge of the key economic and political history of Canada and its initial colonial relationship to Great Britain and France and its relationship to the great republic to the south , the United States is essential in making sense of Canadian politics and its political history. The ongoing debate about the place of Québec in Canada can only be properly understood in the light of Canadian history and the history of the French fact in the founding of the country. Much has changed in Canada over its history. New France in the 18th century had a European origin  population of about 70,000. In 1867 the population of Canada was 3.46 million people excluding the first nations’ population of about 120,000 people.In 1913 the population was 7.63 million. In 1941 Canada had a population of about 11.5 million people. Its population today according to Statistics Canada is over 36 million. Whereas in the 1940s and fifties the major groups were those of British or French background and people from other ethnicities constituted less than twenty percent of the population this third group has grown substantially in importance. The first nations’ and indigenous population is now estimated to be over 1.4 million.

Canada can no longer be understood as a British country or a former French colony. This in strong contrast to the Canada of the early 1950s when both the Union Jack and the Red Ensign flew on the flagpole of my elementary school in Winnipeg and we were considered British subjects. Rather Canadian nationality has come into its own based as it is on a wide range of ethnicities , founding peoples and nations and immigrants from all over the world. We will likely be a nation of more than 40 million in the not too distant future and have in much of the country a strong pan-Canadian national sensibility. Yet at the same time, Québec maintains its identity as the very successful product of more than 4 centuries of French dominant presence in North America. This French presence and identity is also strong in several other regions of the country notably New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba. The partly bilingual character of Canada and the tension over Québec’s place in Canada are creative if difficult elements of the Canadian nation making process.
On October 19th, 2015 Canadians went to the polls to elect a new Parliament. This election was a very closely hard fought election with three major parties each according to the poll of polls having had a good chance initially to elect the largest number of members and form a minority government. In the end it produced a majority Trudeau led Liberal government.

We will discuss the election and the current election in detail, including the leading policy issues, the nature of the voting system, the differences between the parties, Canadian electoral history and the issue of getting younger Canadians to vote in much larger numbers. The election of a majority government under the leadership of Justin Trudeau a son of a former Prime Minister, Pierre Elliot Trudeau and a coalition of liberals, liberal progressives, environmentalists and liberal social democrats stands in sharp contrast to the recent electoral experience in the USA. Our complex but close trade relationship with the USA under the new Trump Republican administration has  strongly affected Canada and its democracy as anti free trade sentiments work their way through Congress, the White House and the halls of public opinion. We will face serious economic challenges if the protectionist anti- NAFTA nationalist sentiments apparently held  by the Congress toward the new agreement are not moderated. . We also face a potentially very dangerous situation should there not be a peaceful diplomatic resolution of the dispute over North Korea acquiring nuclear weapons and the means of delivering them to North American targets.

Text :Eric Mintz, Livianna Tossutti and Christopher Dunn, Canada’s Politics:Democracy, Diversity and Good Government. Pearson , 2017. Available at text bookstore.

Evaluation: An essay due in the first week of November on a topic chosen from a list of possible topics included in the list of possible essay topics below. 50 %. A final exam 50 %.

Additional reading: I draw upon several other works in Canadian history and Canadian politics . These include Alvin Finkel and Margaret Conrad’s two volume History of the Canadian Peoples vol.1 Beginning to 1867 (1993) vol.2 3rd ed. 1867 to the present; C.B.Macpherson, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism:Hobbes to Locke;Stanley Ryerson, French Canada; Unequal Union; Craig Brown, the illustrated history of Canada, 2002; Donald Creighton, The Road to Confederation:The Emergence of Canada; Harold Innis, Essays in Canadian Economic History, Rand Dyck& Christopher Cochrane, Canadian Politics Critical Approaches; Stephen Brooks, Canadian Democracy, Oxford U Press, 2012. Michael Hart, A Trading Nation:Canadian Trade Policy from Confederation to Globalization, 2002. Mel Watkins and W. Easterbrook, Approaches to Canadian Economic History, 1969.Bob Rae,Whats’s Happened to Politics. Simon&Schuster, 2015; Richard Pound, Canadian Facts and Dates,Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2005.

  Course Topics:

  1. Introduction and overview. The last Canadian federal election, issues , polls and media spin.The electoral system and the need for reform.The recent American election and its impact upon Canada.The economics of full employment and the impact of globalization and growing inequality.
  2. Geography and Economic history: the role of the staple in French Canada and British North America.Readings and sources: Mintz et al, Canada’s Politics, pp.1-51, pp.91-120; Finkel & Conrad, History of the Canadian Peoples vol.1 & 2; pp.1-208 in vol.2, pp. tba; Michael Hart, A Trading Nation:Canadian Trade Policy from Colonization to Globalization ch.1,2&3. Stanley Ryerson, Unequal Union:Confederation and the Roots of the Conflict in the Canadas 1815-1873; Stephen Clarkson, Does North America exist? Governing the continent after NAFTA and 9/11.Mel Watkins, A Staple Theory of Economic Growth, D.Drache, Harold Innis and Canadian Capitalist Development, and Claire Pentland, The Development of a Capitalistic Labour Market in Canada all in G.Laxer ed, Perspectives on Canadian Economic Development,Oxford U. Press, 1991. J.Bhagwati ,Protectionism; Arghi Emmanuel, Unequal Exchange:A study of the Imperialism of Trade.
  3. Indigenous peoples in pre European Canada. Indigenous Rights and Governance. The Riel rebellions Manitoba and Québec.
  4. The conquest and its legacy.Québec nationalism in twentieth and twenty-first century Canada.
  5. Democracy and the Liberal democratic state.The 1837 rebellions and the chartists. The roots of confederation and the Canadian constitution. Canadian political culture. Gender politics. Identity politics.
  6. The clash between labour and capital in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and its impact upon Canadian politics and the political party system.
  7. The Canadian economy, the business cycle, free trade , globalization, unemployment, inequality and regional disparities.
  8. Canada as an urban nation. The growth of diversity. Canada’s treatment of its minorities. Québec nationalism and Canadian federalism.
  9. Canadian political culture and our place in global politics. The other North America.
  10. Political parties, interest groups and social movements. Democratic reform.
  11. The constitution and the Charter of Rights. The Federal system and the economics of federalism.
  12. The institutions of government: Parliament and the power of the Prime Minister.
  13. The judiciary and the courts.
  14. Summary and Review.

Essay Topics for the TermAssignment: Due the first Wednesday in November i.e. Nov. 6 . Write an essay of between 9-10 pages on one of the following topics. The essay must include a bibliography of sources consulted. Sources should include scholarly books, articles from academic journals and where appropriate the quality press, for example The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, Le Devoir, Toronto Star, The Wall Street Journal. Use a manual of style and proper citation and include a reference to it in your bibliography.

 Essay Topics:
1.“The Quebec Charter of Values and the bill 21 on religious symbols  was rooted in the Quebec nationalist opposition to Canadian federalism and the nationalists’ rejection of multiculturalism.” Discuss critically explaining the roots of the debate over values in Quebec, the goal of a secular society in the light of Quebec history and your assessment of the claim that this Charter was simply a legitimate expression of the need to protect Quebec’s culture.

  1. How can C.B. Macpherson’s notion of possessive individualism be used to construct a theory of Canadian politics? Explain his theory and explore Canada’s class cleavages and political economy in your essay.
  2. Foreign ownership and control of the Canadian economy is still an issue of considerable importance in Canada’s political economy. Explain why and discuss how it has been integrated into our politics in the past and its current status.
  3. Does Canada’s voting system of first-past-the-post need to be reformed? What alternative systems are there? How would they work? Why would they be better and how could they be implemented?
  4. Discuss the power of the Prime Minister and his/her office. What checks if any need          to be placed on it?  What countervailing powers and influences are available in Canadian democracy?
  5. What ought to be Canada’s role in global affairs? Are we a peacemaker or a powder monkey ?
  6. Discuss the relationship of Canada to the U.S. Given the close economic integration that the free trade pact has promoted explore what challenges this poses to our sovereignty and independence. If NAFTA negotiations fail what ought our trade strategy be.
  7. Analyze the problem of unemployment. What role has government economic policy played in this problem? What is the role of the Bank of Canada and the Department of Finance in managing this problem? Explain the competing approaches of Keynesianism versus monetarism with respect to this problem.
  8. Discuss Canadian economic history from the point of view of staple development ?Does staple theory still have explanatory power in the twenty first century?
  9. Discuss the struggle for responsible democratic government in Canada and its roots in the 1837 rebellions, the Riel rebellion, the struggle of the suffragettes for women’s voting rights and the struggle of the indigenous people for their rights.
  10. What role have trade unions played in Canada’s political and economic development ? How have they enhanced democracy? What is their role in an increasingly globalized world economy?
  11. Discuss the evolution of indigenous rights and governance in Canada.
  12. Discuss the recent Canadian election. In the end what do you believe determined the outcome: policy differences, the image of the party leader; regional differences; ideology; economic circumstances or media manipulation? What can polling tell us about this? Does the election show us the need for reforming the electoral system?
  13. Discuss Canada and free trade in the context of globalization. How can we break free from excessive dependence on an uncertain American market? What differences has the new Trump administration made to the Canada U.S. relationship and how should Canada respond?
  14. Discuss gender issues in Canadian politics.
  15. Discuss the importance of environmental issues and climate change in Canadian politics.
  16. Discuss the housing crisis in Canada. What policies are necessary to deal with it?



Statistics Canada found the median net worth of Canadian families had risen … The report comes amid growing concern about widening income inequality in many .


About haroldchorneyeconomist

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