unit 2 – government and politics

8/8/2019 Unit 2 Government and Politics

1/18

UNIT 2 GOVERNMENT

AND POLITICS

Grade 9 Social Studies


2/18

WHAT IS A GOVERNMENT?

A government is a

ruling body that runsthe affairs of a country,

province, city, town, or

district.


3/18

WHY DO WE HAVE A GOVERNMENT?

The governments role in

our lives is tomake

decisions. To do this

they make laws and

ensure that they arecarried out.


4/18

Since there are so manydecisions we have to make on a

daily basis, it would be simply

impossible to decide what dowith larger issues such as

education and health care. That

is why we elect a government they represent us and make

difficult decisions on our behalf.


5/18

WHAT CAN THE GOVERNMENT

DO?

The government hasmany powers and these

are stated in the

Canadian Constitution.


6/18

The Constitution is a set of rules

for the various levels of

government to follow in theirdecision-making.

The Constitution was originally

called the British North America(BNA) Act and contains both a

written and unwritten part.


7/18

THE CANADIAN CONSTITUTION

Written Unwritten

The Constitutional Act,

1867

Traditions based on

the British system.

The Canadian Charter of

Rights and Freedoms

An amending formula

which sets out the ways

in which the Constitutioncan be changed.


8/18

THERE ARE THREE BRANCHES OF

GOVERNMENTAL POWER:

Executive Power This is the power to

administer and enforce the laws of the

country.

Legislative Power This is the power to

make laws.

Judicial Power This is the power to

decide who has broken the law and what

penalties they will be given.


9/18

WHAT TYPE OF GOVERNMENT DO WE

HAVE IN CANADA?

The system of government in Canada is

based largely on the British form of

government. Our government can be

described in four ways:y a constitutional monarchy

y a federal system

y

a party systemy a representative democracy


10/18

A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY

Canada recognizes themonarch (king or

queen) as our head of state. The current

monarch is Queen Elizabeth II; the Queen

does not rule Canada or any otherCommonwealth nation directly. In fact,

she has little power. The monarch is

represented by the Governor General who

has a largely symbolic role. The GG isappointed by the monarch on the advice of

the Prime Minister.


11/18


12/18

There was recently a new Governor

General sworn in; David Johnston

took his seat at GG on October 1,

2010.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ne

ws/video/johnston-installed-as-g-

g/article1739125/


13/18

FEDERAL SYSTEM

The federal system of government was created by

the Fathers of Confederation in 1867. They

determined that there should be two levels of

government: federal, that would look after the

needs of all citizens of Canada, and provincial,

to look after the specific needs of a region or

province.

Since then, another level of government has been

added:municipal government. This

government looks after the needs of a city, town,

or municipality.


14/18


15/18

PARTY SYSTEM

Most of the people who represent youat the federal, provincial, and some atthe municipal level, belong to a

political party.A political party is agroup of people who have commonbeliefs, ideas, and plans about the bestway to govern. The party asks us to

vote for its candidates in a particularriding, and if enough party candidatesare elected, that party forms thegovernment.


16/18

The major political parties in

Canada are the Conservative Party,

the Liberal Party, and the New

Democratic Party (NDP). In Quebec,

separatists are active at the federal

level as the Bloc Quebecois, and at

the provincial level as the PartiQuebecois.


17/18

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY

Canada is a democracy, which

means that the people govern the

nation. Since it is impossible for

every citizen to be involved directly

in the workings of the government

theres just too much to do we give

our power to elected representativeswho act on our behalf. This is called

a representative democracy.


18/18

On your own or in a small group,

read over the handouts on Federal,Provincial/Territorial, and Municipal

Governments. Fill in any blanks

that are empty.

Tonight, you will want to visit the

class blog

http://rooma215.blogspot.com

to download a list of important

vocabulary for this unit.

unit 2 – government and politics

Documents