Jag ger er här del 3 av 5 av intervjun med Vincent och Farees! Den här delen handlar om den kanadensiska politiken. 

15. What is the political system like? Does it resemble the US where all the states have some authority or are the different Canadian regions more united?

Vincent Mai (VM): Yes, actually, it is not called States but Provinces and Territories. Canada has 10 provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador (all together), and Nova Scotia. There also are 3 territories, that are in the North: Yukon, North-West Territories and Nunavut.

Over all the responsabilities a “central” government would have, half of it is under federal juridiction and half is under provincial juridiction. For example, Canada is responsible for international relations, peace, order, criminal law, civil rights (except in Québec), whereas provinces are responsible for education, healthcare (with federal fundings), natural ressources... Then, immigration and agriculture are shared by both.

The territories are very lowly populated and thus are mostly governed by the federal government.

Farees Nathoo: (FN): The federal government is based on the British system of Westminster democracy.  The federal government holds some key responsibilities and delegates the others to the provinces.  The key difference between the American system and the Canadian is that the Prime Minister needs the consent of the majority of the legislature for a policy to pass, and that residual powers are given to the federal government as opposed to the provincial government. 

16. Which are the biggest political parties and which one rules now? Are there a lot of differences between the parties?

Vincent Mai (VM): As I told you just before, there are two levels of government and both of them are as important. But as I don’t want to enumerate the provincial ones, let’s stay on the federal level. There are three main parties: the Conservatives (CPC), the Liberals (LPC) and the Neo-Democrats (NDP). The Conservatives are really right-handed and led by Stephen Harper (from Alberta). They have been governing for 9 years now and have the majority at the Parliament. The Liberals are now led by Justin Trudeau (from Québec, son of P-E Trudeau, ex Prime Minister) and have gone through some hard times last years. Before the CPC era, they were the “natural governing party”. In simple, they are centered, mostly right-handed economically and left-handed socially. The NDP is left handed and is now the official opposition party. They are led by Thomas Mulcair (from Québec). All the parties are federalist. It is important to say so because, before, there was the Bloc Québecois, a nationalist party that only took into cosideration Québec’s interests, and that was quite powerful due to a strong popularity in Québec. However on the last elections, they got swept by the NDP in Québec.         

Farees Nathoo: (FN): Ditto what Vincent has said here, it is interesting to note that federal politics still faces regional challenges, and certain regions historically vote for certain parties (ex. Ontario > Liberal; Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba > Conservative etc.)

17. Did you notice the economical crisis in 2008-2009 a lot here in Canada?

Vincent Mai (VM): To be fair, not really. If there is a good thing the conservatives at the federal government did, that’s managing the crisis. Canada is, I think, the economically advanced country that suffered the least from the crisis and the only one in the G8 not to get into recession.

Farees Nathoo: (FN): It was a big issue in the media, but I feel that the Conservatives managed the crisis quite well, and our banks were much more strictly governed, keeping us safe from the type of crash that the American banks experienced.

18. If you got to rule the country for one day, what would be the first thing you would change?

Vincent Mai (VM): I would change most of the things the Conservatives did. Give a voice to the scientists again, stop encouraging the oil sands exploitation, stop following USA in everything they do internationally, put back the firearm registry, and put back all the art masterpieces that have been taken out of every Canadian embassy in the world to be replaced by the English Queen’s portrait. Yeah, I know, you asked for the first thing, but I would do them all at the same time, on one single day, if it was necessary :)

Farees Nathoo: (FN): I’m also not the biggest fan of the Conservatives so this is a bit of a tough question! I’d say that I would start paying membership dues and participating actively in the United Nations once more.  This used to be a massive Canadian commitment but has definitely dropped off in under the current gov’t. 

Hoppas att ni tycker att det är lika intressant som jag! 

Trevlig helg allihopa, kul att ni kikar in här och läser :)