What American's Ought to Know About Canada, But Don't

[joncha]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
There are a lot of prominent ex-pat Canadians in American culture. Are there many ex-pat Yanks prominent in Canada?

Only the odd CFL or NHL player or former player.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Ben Kenobi
Unlike in the US there is no overlap of representation between representatives, at both the federal and provincial levels.

Don't you have an upper and lower chamber of Parliment? If your system is based on the UK then you must have an upper and lower house thus won't there be over lap between the upper and lower house. I mean each person will have two representatives; one from the upper and one from the lower.

Also are you saying the provincial officials are the same as the federal officials? Wouldn't those be seporate offices thus you'd have multiple elected officials just like the US.

[KrazyHorse]

Political parties are private organisations with a public purpose. I don't believe in unlimited political contributions because I don't believe in unrestricted free enterprise. Funding is an economic issue. The governance of a political party is a freedom of speech and freedom of association issue.

[Dinner]

In Canada you do not vote for individual politicians. Instead you vote for a party and the party decides who takes what office.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Oerdin


Don't you have an upper and lower chamber of Parliment? If your system is based on the UK then you must have an upper and lower house thus won't there be over lap between the upper and lower house. I mean each person will have two representatives; one from the upper and one from the lower.

a) The Senate is a joke. The best thing to do is pretend it isn't there.

b) Senators are not elected as representatives of the people. They are appointed by the sitting Prime Minister. I do not have a Senate representative.

[Jon Miller]

what do canadians know about the Kohn Luttinger effect?

Jon Miller

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Political parties are private organisations with a public purpose. I don't believe in unlimited political contributions because I don't believe in unrestricted free enterprise. Funding is an economic issue. The governance of a political party is a freedom of speech and freedom of association issue.

Except when it comes to muzzling MPs.

I'm not saying that parties should not have freedom of association.

I am saying the boss should not be given unquestionable power in the factory of our democracy.

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Asher
Alberta has more oil than Saudi Arabia does.

The vast, vast majority of that oil is shale oil. Because shale is a very friable stone with extremel low porosity and permiability it is almost impossible to extract most of Alberta's oil. Thus dispite having high amounts of oil in the ground Alberta's yearly out put is a fraction of Saudi Arabia.

In the US and Canada the highest Petroleum producers are:

1) Texas
2) Alaska
3) Alberta
4) California
5) Louisiana

[Ben Kenobi]

Don't you have an upper and lower chamber of Parliment? If your system is based on the UK then you must have an upper and lower house thus won't there be over lap between the upper and lower house. I mean each person will have two representatives; one from the upper and one from the lower.

No, that's not how it works here in Canada. Federally, in the US, you elect senators who represent the entire state. In Canada, we divide the provinces into ridings that are supposed to be about 100K people per riding. Therefore, you will not have more than one person representing the same area, each MP represents one riding only.

Senators are a different breed. They are appointed by the prime minister, and are not elected by the people, so they represent Canada as a whole, rather than any individual state or province. They are supposed to serve as a check, but given that they are lifetime appointments made by the prime minister, they do not check anything.

Also are you saying the provincial officials are the same as the federal officials? Wouldn't those be seporate offices thus you'd have multiple elected officials just like the US.

Poorly worded. Each federal MP represents one riding only, and each is the sole representative for the riding. Provincially, each province is different, and they divide their provinces into ridings that are served by our provincial MPs, that do not precisely correlate with those of the Federal level.

So you have two systems overlapping each other, but each system only has one representative for one area.

[Ben Kenobi]

In Canada you do not vote for individual politicians. Instead you vote for a party and the party decides who takes what office.

No, just the opposite. You elect your MP, but you do not elect the cabinet. The PM selects a Cabinet from among the MPs.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Oerdin
In Canada you do not vote for individual politicians. Instead you vote for a party and the party decides who takes what office.

Untrue.

In a federal election you vote for the individual candidate who is running for the office of Member of Parliament from that riding. The major parties nominate candidates in every riding in the country (with the exception of the Bloc Quebecois for obvious reasons). Any citizen over the age of 18 is eligible to run in any riding in Canada irrespective of residence as long as he can gather 100 signatures of registered electors in that riding and can put up a 1000$ guarantee that he will actually properly file all his paperwork.

[Uncle Sparky]

Che : When were you in Winnipeg ? I'm assuming you went to VJ's drive in or Juniors for the cheeseburger & fries. (same family)

Canadian food and American is very similar. Because we are less of an assimilated society (which I think is the Big distinguishing feature btw) we tend to have more restaurants where you can get real ethnic food - Ukrainian perogies, Chinese food not consisting of sweet & sour everything, Jamaican jerk patties, etc.

I've mentioned before, democracy and the "democratic deficit" is definitely a hot topic in Canada. Many, including me, are pushing for a more representative prop/rep system - www.fairvote.ca

Currently there is an election campaign in the Conservative Fiefdom of Alberta. The vote is tomorrow. The Conservatives will win the majority of the votes and, sadly, no-one around here cares.

[notyoueither]

Pass a law that the leader(s) of the parties have no say on local nominations for their party.

That would do more to reform government in Canada than 10 Royal Commissions and 20 plebicites ever could.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by notyoueither
I am saying the boss should not be given unquestionable power in the factory of our democracy.

If people agree to abide by rules by joining a political party then why should the State interfere? I'm in favour of a nanny state in economic matters, not in everything else...

[Ben Kenobi]

what do canadians know about the Kohn Luttinger effect?

It has something to do with solid state physics.

That's about it.