Political Convergence in Canada: The Case of the Liberal and Conservative Party of Canada - Term Paper Example

Department of Social Sciences and Commerce POLITICAL CONVERGENCE IN CANADA: THE CASE OF THE LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA Introduction Political parties within a democratic system are the representation of open thought, where the allowance of diverging ideological reflection is promoted and reinforced. The party that best identifies and understands the needs of its citizens efficaciously would logically, be the governing party. A national political party that desires to gain power must have a certain propensity to tend to the most fundamental values of it's citizens while representing the entire population as best as possible. Since humans hold diverse and convoluted ideological thoughts, and political parties represent citizens, then it can be concluded with some certainty that there should also be numerous distinguishable political parties representing these intricate ideologies. This assumption however, rather enigmatically, does not hold true. As Eric Belanger lamentably notes, "Political parties in advanced industrial democracies are becoming less and less distinguishable to the point of being identical, having similar ideologies and political platforms. This argument is especially prevalent in descriptions of the Canadian political scene." The latter finding is furthermore reflected in the low voter turnout rates and loss of interest in politics amongst the population; as political parties continue to become more similar and detached from the needs of their citizens, voters become more turned-off by their participatory democratic system. Despite the open discourse promoting individualism and free-thought, it appears that political parties in Canada have adopted a one faced approach to policy. Bewilderingly "advanced industrialization", the supposed enlightenment of civilization, along with economic prosperity puts morals and values, arguably what distinguishes humans from other animals, on the backbench. There's been much discussion on general political thought, because in order to delve into our upcoming subject it is imperative to discuss what political parties are, what they should be, and how they affect citizens' lives. This paper will analyze policy implementations that were enacted by the Liberal Party of Canada and the Conservative Party of Canada in order to get a clearer image about the political scene in Canada and better insight on the two major political parties in the country. Furthermore, it will attempt to explain why convergence exists in party systems. Behind the polished rhetoric utilized by politicians, and the distinct colour differentiations of "red" and "blue" employed by the parties as tags, is their behaviour all that different As the old adage goes, "Actions speak louder than words". It is these actions that will truly adjudicate, as Nadeau states, whether Canadian political parties really are lamentably indistinguishable. Development: Understanding Convergence When voting for a political party in Canada it is observed that there is a "weakness of class and ideological cleavages in a regionally divided society (Canada), held together by a system of elite brokerage through political institutions minimally affected by public inputs" Furthermore, it is ascertained that voting in Canada is more affected by short term interest in issues manipulated by parties rather than by enduring ideological orientations". In light of these findings, it is not surprising that political parties, especially the more successful ones such as the Liberals and Conservatives, are similar. If ideology isn't very relevant, then a major differentiation between parties will be specific issues. Usually, the issues in question will not be black and white however, and will be concentrated most likely at a certain centre of political thought. If one party favours death and the other life, it is quite obvious which party would be victorious. The issues of debate are on issues much closer to the center of the ideological spectrum, minimizing the scope of the debate. Therefore it can be said, that if parties are not ideologically driven, but rather concentrate simply on specific issues then they will usually be rather similar. Some scholarly literature suggests that Canadian political parties "have been electorally-focused organizations whose primary goal has been winning power and the spoils of office" (Landes, 1995, p.424) Landes classifies them as essentially pragmatic parties with a basic non-ideological policy outlook. Being so electorally oriented, they are, essentially, alliances of various political elements intent upon winning elections. Policy appears to be a secondary consideration. Additionally, the organization of the major parties since they are electoral organizations, the party structure is only fleshed out prior to and during an electoral campaign between elections, the party organization is a paper tiger (Landes). Scholarly literature is extensive regarding the Canadian political system as a brokerage system. This outlook suggests that, as posited by Landes, the major parties "lack cohesive ideological visions" and "the parties are flexible and opportunistic because this sort of behaviour is necessary to preserve the fragile unity of the nation." Due to its large landscape, Canada has numerous regionally distinct groups, however, in order to stay within one's country they must put those differences aside. On a provincial level however, there are numerous ideological differences. The notion that the two major Canadian parties are similar is not a new idea. In 1965, John A. Scarrow suggested that the differences between the two parties are shams. Canada has one of the weakest party systems of any major democracy even though its institutions would lead us to expect a strong party system. Canadian parties, he argues, are not ideological because Canadians are not ideological. Canadian parties are weak because Canadian identity is weak. So much Canadian policy-making from Confederation in 1867 onward has been designed to bring the country together. Engelman and Schwartz (Confederations itself was...designed to united diverse peoples, regions, and interests. Broadie and Johnson performing the heroic role of promoting social stability in a divided policy; Canadian parties have sought to be all things to all people in an attempt to forge a sense of national unity. Both the Liberals and PC occupy the same centrist ground in federal politics- alternating between a kind of liberal conservativism and a kind of conservative liberalism (Mcallister, 1989, 508). While the Liberals tilt slightly to the left and the PC to the right, it is often difficult to tell who is governing by the policy agenda of the day. The PC initiated such public programs as the Canadian National Railway, the Ontario hydroelectric corporation, and the Canadian Broadcasting Company. Parties serve as brokers between the many interests in Canadian society holding the country together, rather than as centrifugal forces tearing it apart with appeals to class, religion or ideology (Clarke at al., 1991, 9-10) Both parties are committed to national unity, to redistribution from the wealthy center to the poorer peripheries though transfer payments and to an activist welfare state. These policies of redistribution help ensure that there is a weal class basis for Canadian Political Parties (Clarke at all., 1991, 50; Engelman and Schwartz, 1975; Scarrow, 1965, 72)Over time o, one federal party has almost most successful in establishing itself as the party of the government and national unity, the Liberals. The dominant pattern in Canadian politics is "between majority and minority Liberal governments" and "the line between the government and the Liberal Party has become tenuous" (Meisel, 1992, 342) The liberals have received more votes than any other party in 13 of 17 elections since 1945- and 75 percent of the time they have gathered more votes than all the other parties (Nevitte at all, 200, 67) The frequency of minority governments has two countervailing consequences. On the one hand, minority status (or even bare majorities) makes party cohesion critical. The fragility of a coalition makes compels the opposition to mimic the policy of the governing party. A campaign too heavily invested in ideology may scare off voters and put the governing arty, generally the Liberals, back in power again. Parties don't become preeminent by being far from public opinion. Minority parties are to upset the status quo by challenging the prevailing ideology. There have been however things that have separated the two parties such as energy and trade. Provincial politics has ideology however. The issues of national unity is not at stake, so the gloves are off .Party identification is a short term force in Canada, responding not to a deep seated cleavages such as ideology or class. Instead, partisanship in Canada reflects the politics of the day, especially the personalities of party leaders. The most frequent reason people change their vote partisanship is reaction to party leaders (Clarke and Stuart, 1985) The Canadian Liberal party is not quite so liberal. Much like the people who vote for them, they tilt slightly to the right. Political turmoil always follows eras when national unity becomes the subject of political campaigns. Trudeau tried to enforce a sense of national unity, first through his energy program and then through a new Canadian constitution. This led to the demise of the Liberals. Tories were not much more successful. Similarly the conservatives have often advocated increased government regulation of the economy, by Bennett's Conservative Government in 1935; equally important examples are to be found in the Conservative opposition to the removal of price controls by the Liberal Government in 1950 and the Conservative Governments agricultural price support program begun in 1958. In learning whether the parties suffer from convergence, we see interesting ideals as listed in various publications and texts on the subject. In an examination of the thirteen separate bills up for debate currently in the Canadian Senate, we find that nearly all of the bills were proposed by the Liberal party and that all of those bills are relative to across the board changes including national holidays, food and drug laws, criminal code laws, conservation and clean water laws, lotteries and income taxes all related to proposals relative to the liberal party or the independent party. Only two would be by Conservative parties and those would be S201 and S202 yet they also coincide with those produced by the Liberal party. All thirteen bills currently before the Canadian House of Commons would be represented by the Conservative Party. Yet, they also would reflect similar considerations to those the Liberal party in the Canadian Senate. Examining the variety of laws created by the Canadian House of Commons as well as the laws created within the Canadian Senate, we can see that the lines have assuredly been blurred between the issues, the style of politics and the boundaries between the various party lines. The fact that there would be more liberal and independent voices being heard in the separate houses in the realm of sponsoring bills and laws would in fact impact how work is perceived in the realm of government. Other considerations would be the very types of bills being considered by the Liberal and the Independent parties. The reason to pay attention to the types of laws being sponsored by these parties would in fact be for a simple reason. Typically conservative stances are being held by liberal parties in the crime and national policies that are being considered. You see this in S-205 with the National Philosophy Day or with S-207 and the Criminal Code bill before the Canadian Senate. In an effort to show and exemplify the convergence between parties, consider that a Liberal senator introduced S-208 for drinking water regulations and an Independent introduced S-210 to protect parks in the area. The fact that in the Canadian House of Commons would have so very many laws, all produced by Conservatives, include a federal accounting act, one to work with the international bridges and tunnel regulations, another for public health and yet another for elections. All of these proposed laws would be listed as C-2 through C-5 on the Parliament of Canada website. The fact that the there would be such convergence in the realm of Canadian politics would be quite evident in the formulation of the laws managed and also in the fact that so few parties would be truthfully represented in the creation of these laws. Conclusion Determining whether convergence is both evident and obvious in the political landscape Canada has been working with for the past few years cannot be seen easily in the laws created. Yet, also, in the fact that there seems to be a blurring of the platforms between the various parties, we do see a convergence of ideologies in place of what at one time was a definitive line between the parties. It is this we must consider to be something that should be seen objectively. Yet, in point of fact, the convergence of party ideologies would be nearly ignored by those who are working within their parties in government stations within the Canadian Parliament. Works Cited: BELANGER, Eric; Issue Ownership by Canadian Political Parties 1953-2001 PETRY, Francois; The Opinion - Policy Relationship in Canada; The Journal of Politics, Vol.61, No. 2 (May, 1999), pp.540-550. STEVENSON, Michael; Ideology and Unstable Party identification in Canada: Limited Rationality in a Brokerage Party System Canadian Journal of Political Science No.4 (Dec. 1987) pp.813-850 Works Referenced: BELANGER, Eric; Issue Ownership by Canadian Political Parties 1953-2001 PETRY, Francois; The Opinion - Policy Relationship in Canada; The Journal of Politics, Vol.61, No. 2 (May, 1999), pp.540-550. STEVENSON, Michael; Ideology and Unstable Party identification in Canada: Limited Rationality in a Brokerage Party System Canadian Journal of Political Science No.4 (Dec. 1987) pp.813-850 Jedwab, Jack; Apathy, Protest and Convergence in Canadian Politics: A 2004 Federal Election Post Mortem; October 5, 2004 Association for Canadian Studies http://www.acs-aec.ca/Polls/5-10-2004.pdf Parliament of Canada; Welcome to the Parliament of Canada; 5/16/2006 http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/index.aspLanguage=E Read More