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Is Canada a Westminster or Consensus Democracy? A Brief Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2006

Donley T. Studlar  and
Kyle Christensen
Donley T. Studlar
Affiliation:
West Virginia University
Kyle Christensen
Affiliation:
West Virginia University
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Extract

Because of its mix of institutions and practices, the fundamental nature of the government of Canada is a problematic case for scholars. A reconsideration of the Canadian polity needs to be undertaken because of events over the past quarter century, such as the development of executive federalism; the repatriation of a revised Constitution from the supervision of the United Kingdom over the objections of Quebec; the rejection of the constitutional settlements in the Meech Lake Accord (1990) and the Charlottetown Accord (1992); increased attention to the claims of Aboriginal peoples; increased movements for relaxing party discipline in Parliament and for a more proportional electoral system; increased controversy over the use of judicial review in interpreting the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; and, above all, the ongoing problem of national unity, especially stemming from the Quebec separatist movement.An earlier version of this paper was presented at a conference of the Association of Canadian Studies, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Thanks to Arend Lijphart for data and comments.

Type
SYMPOSIUM—THE POLITICS OF CANADA
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 39 , Issue 4 , October 2006 , pp. 837 - 841
Copyright
© 2006 The American Political Science Association

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