Political parties in Canada - Essay Example

The intentions of this study are political parties that are vital to the function of almost every feature of a modern political system. A political party as defined by Dyck is a structured group that appoints candidates and challenges elections in order to persuade the policy and personnel of the government. On the other hand, Gauja deemed that political parties are essential actors in democratic elections (1). There are specific purposes why there are political parties. Dyck named three electoral roles of political parties.

The said roles are recruiting and training politicians, imparting experienced political service leadership and providing a joint group of individuals attached to a coherent policy platform. Ideology as stressed by Dyck is a coherent set of ideas or principles about how a society should function, with specific reference to the role of the state. Both parties possess ideologies which can be differentiated in a variety of ways. The major ideologies in Canada are conservatism and liberalism; hence, it is fitting that the two major political parties be given emphasis.

Liberalism endeavors to unshackle the individual and make the most of each person’s self-determination and capability; hence, the Liberal Party of Canada having possessed this philosophy will gain more supporters in Canada. Conversely, the dogma imbibed by the Conservative Party of Canada is conservatism as the name of the political party implies. Conservatives aim to unfetter the individual from the limits imposed by the state (Dyck 218). Individualism is another principle upheld by the Conservative Party.

Individualism as defined by Dyck is the means of decreasing the influence of the state to a minimum and permitting capitalistic market forces to identify the distribution of power and wealth (218). In this philosophy, the main concern is diminishing the tax burden on individuals; however, the unlikable part of such principle is that the individual has little support from the programs of the government for the reason that conservatism promotes minimal government control and ownership (Dyck 218).

Conservatives do not revere inequality however, if certain policies result to inequality and elitism, they are nonchalant for they believe that inequalities are natural and deserved such as some individuals are more skilled compared to others or some work harder than others; hence, these people gain more compared to others for they deserve what is given to them. Liberalism, the ideology valued by the Liberal Party of Canada as their name suggests possess a dual personality which can be categorized into welfare and business variants (Dyck 219).

The business liberals suppose that the state hinders individual self-actualization and that its function should therefore be reduced so that individualism can triumph. On the contrary, the welfare liberals take the perspective that the state can be utilized as a positive agent in liberating individuals from the restrictions brought about by other forces, including the private enterprise economy (Dyck 219). Therefore, the welfare group of liberal can be considered as upholding a mixed of individualism and collectivism as their guiding principle.

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