Argumentative Essay: Is Canada A Representative Democracy?

Canada is considered a representative democracy due to the fact that democracies are considered by gradient and not a simple definition, however Canada cannot be considered a democracy due to legislative issues such as head of state, Section Thirty-Three of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and issues with appointment and equality. The concept of democracy has been around since 6th century BC, used by classical Athenians and Greece and is used to contradict other types of governments such as monarchies and oligarchies. The word democracy comes from the Greek word for the people (demos) and the word for power or authority (kratia), and the concept was based on the public holding all power and being able to vote. They practiced direct democracy, in which all citizens were to meet to discuss policy and then vote by majority. Canada is considered a representative democracy because it instead elects representatives to represent the public. This now means that technically that the public should hold all power, and that the representatives should have equal power and no one can be above another. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case in the majority of Canada’s legislature.

Technicalities are an issue that the world forgets again and again, because technically Canada is not an independent democracy. The Queen must sign off on every single piece of legislature that leaves Parliament, and since that would be impractical the Governor General represents the Queen and signs every bill. This means that without Royal ascent, no bill can become law in Canada. This is contradictory to the equality of other bodies of power. The very concept of democracy is contradictory to that of a monarchy, and technically Canada is still under the sovereignty of the