The Importance Of Canadian Democracy

the importance that citizens should have “an effective and equal voice in the decisions of the political communities to which they belong” (Close & Croci, 2018, Pg. 195). The Canadian government form of democracy is based on the Eurocentric idea from Athens’ democracy, which has implicated onto many aspects of our legal system today. Canada’s current system of governing is based on Representative government, which signifies the “citizens [ability] to elect representatives [into] the legislature” to make decisions on the behalf of the political community (Close & Croci, 2018, Pg. 199). Furthermore, the importance of Canada’s representative is that it provides citizens with important advantages such as accountability, responsiveness and transparency.

The concept of transparency “allows citizens to access information, in order to hold governments accountable” (Close & Croci, 2018, Pg. 203). Lastly, responsiveness, which refers to the governments ability to “respond to the interests of the public” (Close & Croci, 2018, Pg. 206). However, Canada’s seemingly democratic society and government proposes a dilemma as to whether Canada is still a democratic society or rather becoming less democratic. The level of democracy within Canada is debatable since no democratic aspect of our government has been affected directly. However, Canada’s pervasive issues of becoming less democratic of the last decade can be attributable to political disinterest due to pragmatic ideologies, low voter turn out and the inability for political parties to attract voters. Therefore, Canada is becoming less democratic as younger generations are seemingly becoming less interested in various aspects of Canada’s

315). Similarly, the Senate is also responsible for deciding whether bills are enacted or rejected. In addition, the senate also provides revisions, modifications and suggestions to the bill. Furthermore, the political executive branch is composed of the prime minister and the cabinet who are responsible for attaining parliamentary approval; specifically, “on revenue and expenditure, overseeing relations with provincial and foreign governments, [pursuing and issuing prospective] proposals for legislation and overseeing the administrative apparatus of the government” (Close & Croci, 2018, Pg. 311). However, we can compare the different characteristics of a democratic government to a non-democratic government to see whether any characteristics would be definitive of a less democratic government. The key characteristics of democratic government are accountability, participation, transparency and pluralism. Accountability, is the view that governments should be held accountable for their actions, however, non-democratic governments “cannot be controlled by their citizens, and governments [are free]