Canada vs. America

            Many people believe that Canada has become to “Americanized” and that our roots are based entirely on theirs. I believed that as well to a certain extent. After coming to university and taking a few political science courses, I realized that Canada is made up of a lot of different parts of the world including France, Britain and America. I feel as if we take the best part of each of these places and incorporate it into our country. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, if you look at these countries; they’ve always had some sort of problems, especially America. Canada on the other hand is a calm environment, a place that most people would like to raise families in. With the recession in America, not many people who choose America over Canada. When you compare aspects from America and Canada, Canada wins most of the debates. We have a better health care system, we have a more peaceful environment and we don’t have any major enemies. America on the other hand is quite the opposite. I think the main difference would be that people in America, specifically the youth, vote more often than Canadians do. They believe in more political protest, more involvement and are more in tune to what is going on in the news. Young Canadians, not so much!

            When we think about identity, along with thinking that we have been “Americanized”, we also think about all the other symbols that identify what it means to be Canadian. The best example of this would be Tim Horton’s, maple leaf and the Toronto maple leafs. All of these things are symbols that Canada has created on it’s own, it hasn’t been adapted from another country. Basically, Canada is a great nation because we got to take the best parts of the different countries and incorporate it into our own, but at the same time, create our own identity, which makes us Canadian. 

Voter Turn Out

      Voter participation varies among different countries and also varies among men, women, ethnicity etc. During class we talked about the different cleavages that try to analyze why people do or do not vote. I believe there are two big factors on why young people do not vote. The first one is the fact that young people do not feel as if their issues are being properly represented. Personally at this point, I don’t care about the main issues politicians believe in because it doesn’t affect me right now, my main concern is my education and if politicians were more concerned about my issues, I’d be more likely to vote during elections. Secondly, the voting age in Canada is eighteen years old that isn’t the ideal age to allow people to vote. Speaking from personal experience, I turned eighteen on October 31^st, which was thirteen days after the federal elections. I’ve always been very concerned about politics and not being able to vote had almost made me not care about elections at all. Thirteen days wouldn’t make a difference in the way I would have voted or my political views. This event alone made me want re-examine the political system we currently have. After much thought, I was able to come up with a solution; Canadian politics should change the voting age to six months before you turn eighteen years old. Six months doesn’t make a person suddenly change their political views nor develop them. There are virtually no down sides to allowing people to vote six months before their 18th birthday, it gives more people the opportunity to vote but at the same time doesn’t force people to. On a more personal note, I’m now 20 years old and still have not been able to experience voting at a federal level simply because there was a election thirteen days before I turned eighteen. This is also another way to deter people from voting; it doesn’t give people the experience and exposure as early as other people. For example, for the next election I will be around twenty-two years old and will be voting for the first time whereas someone next to me could be eighteen years old and have the same experience level as I do. This only leads to deterring people from voting and also causing them to lose interest in politics.

Comedic Cartoon about Voter Participation

Political Participation

         Political participation is an important part of the political system; it helps the government realize what the people want and the social changes that are emerging. An example of this would be gay marriage rights that weren’t acceptable in the past but are acceptable now. In my opinion, I believe that political participation is essential in a democratic country, without this governments would be able to make their own decisions because the people of the country aren’t concerned enough to participate. People need to be exposed to all the different forms of political participation and not just through voting. Voting is an important part of participation but isn’t always the most effective way nor does it create social change. Different forms such as having protests and going to rallies is a way to participate in a more active way than just voting. I’ve been involved in rallies and protests and I’ve also helped campaign for local elections in Kitchener. It’s an entirely different experience than just simply voting. It’s a lot more active and you get to be a lot more involved with like-minded people. As Canadians, we do have the right to protest but it’s the right to peaceful protest but not all people are able to do this. Some people become so passionate about an issue that things become more aggressive and violent, especially when joined by people with similar views. This goes to show that violent protest doesn’t help solve an issue; it only creates a hostile situation where no one’s voices are being heard. The best example of this would be the G20 meeting that took place in Toronto and the violent behaviour that came from it. It didn’t create any positive outcomes from having an extremely violet protest. Participating in political events is an empowering way to get involved with the government, but it has to be done in a civil way so that you’re thoughts are being heard and considered. There is no sense in running around like a lunatic because it will get dismissed very easily. 

Violent behaviour during G20 Protest

Outcome of G20 Protest

Blogging Assignment

    Today we were given a blogging assignment to do as a component for the course. I thought it was a strange assignment and it was something I've never done before. At this point, I feel a little unprepared because this doesn't really fall into the typical assignments requested in class! I also thought that keeping a blog of record of something like this would be beneficial to my assignment! So today's the first day and I've been playing around with the design of blog and have decided on my favourite one and also added a picture of our text book as the main picture focus! That's all for now, hope you enjoy reading my blog throughout the semester.