Civil Disobedience
Definition: The refusal to obey certain laws or governmental demands for the purpose of influencing legislation or government policy.
Is it ever right to break a law?
Some say yes with 3 important things that HAVE to exist:
1) The law you are planning to break or protest must be truly harmful to other human beings, animals, or the ecosystem.
2) The action you are planning must be peaceful. No violence, no resisting arrest. (This is a key strategy because it looks REALLY BAD on the government forces--either police or military-- when they have to use clubs or tear gas against a person who is only standing or sitting passively and not acting agressively)
3) If you are going to do an act of civil disobedience, you must realize and accept all the consequences such as arrest, criminal record, fines, and/or jail time.
Is it ever right to break a law?
Some say yes with 3 important things that HAVE to exist:
1) The law you are planning to break or protest must be truly harmful to other human beings, animals, or the ecosystem.
2) The action you are planning must be peaceful. No violence, no resisting arrest. (This is a key strategy because it looks REALLY BAD on the government forces--either police or military-- when they have to use clubs or tear gas against a person who is only standing or sitting passively and not acting agressively)
3) If you are going to do an act of civil disobedience, you must realize and accept all the consequences such as arrest, criminal record, fines, and/or jail time.
Famous People Known for their Civil Disobedience
Mahatma Ghandi: used hunger strikes and passive resistance to force English control out of India
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Greta Thunberg: went on strike and sat at Parliament buildings for 3 weeks during school hours to indicate the need for the world to rapidly respond to climate change.
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Rosa Parks: refused to sit at the back of the bus and was arrested for being black and sitting at the front of the bus.
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Why is voting important?
Democracy
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A form of government which lets the PEOPLE decide which government officials gets to help run the country.
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The more people who vote, the more democratic it becomes because the results reflect what the citizens of the country wants. If there are less people who vote, then the results are weighted and biased more towards those people that DID vote--which makes it less democratic.
Who can vote?
1) You need to be a citizen of Canada.
2) You need to be 18 years or older by the date of the election.
Who cannot vote?
1) The Chief Electoral Officer
2) The Assistant Electoral Officer
3) Anyone serving a prison sentence of 2 years or longer.
2) You need to be 18 years or older by the date of the election.
Who cannot vote?
1) The Chief Electoral Officer
2) The Assistant Electoral Officer
3) Anyone serving a prison sentence of 2 years or longer.
Elections Cost Money |
Disclaimer: Video below contains coarse language. Viewer discretion is advised.
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Campaigning--TV ads, radio ads, transportation costs, etc.
It is unrealistic to think a person can win an election today without money. Problem: How can a politician get money to win an election without expecting to "do favours" to the people who donate large amounts of money? (Leads to corruption) Method to reduce corruption: Unlike the United States, Canada's federal government does LIMIT the amount of money people can donate to a political campaign. (Provinces on the other hand, have no rules limiting how much money a person, corporation, or labour union can donate) |
Federally: Corporations, trade unions, and associations are not allowed to make contributions to a registered political party. Individuals can still make contributions to an amount up to $1000 to party candidates to help support them.
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What are the 2 types of voting systems?
FPTP (First Past the Post)
In a constituency/riding, the candidate that has the most amount of votes by the end of the night wins a seat in the House of Commons.
This voting system was coined in reference to a horse race---literally whoever's the first past the post wins. e.g. Sample Elections Result Conservative Party= 40% of the votes NDP= 35% of the votes Green Party= 25% of the votes Conservative Party wins the seat even though 60% of the population didn't vote conservative. Problems with this system:
1) If the Conservatives win the seat even though 60% of the population didn't vote for them, it makes the results BIASED or SKEWED.
2) Every voter who did not vote Conservative will feel that they've wasted their vote. 3) 60% of the voters will feel non-represented. |
Proportion Representation/
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What are the results AFTER voting takes place?
1) Majority Government
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2) Minority Government
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When the results of an election has one political party winning MORE than half the seats in the House of Commons, they will have majority.
Why is this important?? Because that political party can now pass ANY laws they want without getting the support of other parties that make up the House of Commons. |
A minority government means that even though the winning political party has more seats than any other party in Canada, they have LESS than half the seats in the House of Commons.
Why is this important?? If you have a minority government, you MUST COMPROMISE with another party to get them to vote for your laws. (This might mean you change your law to please the other party even though you don't agree with their beliefs.) |
Vocabulary Terms:
Constituencies
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a geographical area that roughly represents 100,000 Canadians living in that space. (In Toronto or Vancouver, there are LOTS of constituencies because it is very easy to fit 100k people in smaller, crowded areas)
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Lobbyist
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a person paid to persuade politicians to vote a certain way on a bill to either make the bill a law, or to vote it down so it never passes.
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Review Worksheet:
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