Editing Politics of Canada (section)

==Political culture==
{{Further|Liberalism in Canada|Conservatism in Canada}}

Canada's [[egalitarian]] approach to governance has emphasized [[Social programs in Canada|social welfare]], [[Economy of Canada|economic freedom]], and [[Multiculturalism in Canada|multiculturalism]], which is based on selective [[economic migrant]]s, [[social integration]], and [[Dissent|suppression]] of [[far-right politics]], that has wide public and political support.<ref name="Ambrosea">{{Cite journal|title=Canadian Multiculturalism and the Absence of the Far Right – Nationalism and Ethnic Politics|journal=Nationalism and Ethnic Politics|volume=21|issue=2|pages=213–236|doi=10.1080/13537113.2015.1032033|year=2015|author1=Emma Ambrosea|author2=Cas Muddea|s2cid=145773856}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/world/canada/canadas-secret-to-resisting-the-wests-populist-wave.html|title=Canada's Secret to Resisting the West's Populist Wave|newspaper=The New York Times|year=2017|last1=Taub|first1=Amanda}}</ref> Its broad range of constituent nationalities and policies that promote a "[[just society]]" are constitutionally protected.<ref name="Rand Dyck 2011 88">{{cite book|author=Rand Dyck|title=Canadian Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BUOoN8e5Ps0C&pg=PA88|year=2011|publisher=[[Cengage Learning]]|isbn=978-0-17-650343-7|page=88|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412160000/https://books.google.com/books?id=BUOoN8e5Ps0C&pg=PA88|archive-date=April 12, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Newman2012">{{cite book|author=Stephen L. Newman|title=Constitutional Politics in Canada and the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ELWjuzADl7UC&pg=PA203|date=2012|publisher=[[SUNY Press]]|isbn=978-0-7914-8584-2|page=203|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412151520/https://books.google.com/books?id=ELWjuzADl7UC&pg=PA203|archive-date=April 12, 2016}}</ref> Individual rights, equality and inclusiveness ([[social equality]]) have risen to the forefront of political and legal importance for most [[Canadians]], as demonstrated through support for the [[Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms|Charter of Rights and Freedoms]], a relatively free economy, and social liberal attitudes toward [[Feminism in Canada|women's rights]] (like [[Abortion in Canada|pregnancy termination]]), [[divorce]], [[homosexuality]], [[same-sex marriage]], [[birth control]], [[Euthanasia in Canada|euthanasia]] or [[cannabis in Canada|cannabis use]].<ref name="HollifieldMartin2014b">{{cite book|author1=James Hollifield|author2=Philip L. Martin|author3=Pia Orrenius|title=Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective, Third Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oec_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA103|year=2014|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-8735-2|page=103}}</ref><ref name="Rand Dyck 2011 88"/><ref name="Newman2012"/><ref name="GuoWong2015"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/rfc-dlc/ccrf-ccdl/cases.html|title=Examples of Charter-related cases - Canada's System of Justice|publisher =Department of Justice - Government of Canada|year= 2018}}</ref> There is also a sense of collective responsibility in Canadian political culture, as is demonstrated in general support for [[universal health care]], multiculturalism, [[evolution]], [[gun control]], [[foreign aid]], and [[social programs in Canada|other social programs]].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Darrell|last1=Bricker|first2=John|last2=Wright|title=What Canadians think about almost everything|publisher=Doubleday Canada|year=2005|isbn=978-0-385-65985-7|pages=8–28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nanosresearch.com/sites/default/files/POLNAT-S15-T705.pdf|title=Exploring Canadian values|date=October 2016|author=Nanos Research|access-date=February 1, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405113447/http://nanosresearch.com/sites/default/files/POLNAT-S15-T705.pdf|archive-date=2017-04-05}}</ref><ref name="polls">{{cite web|url=http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/research/por-multi-imm/sec02-1.asp|title=A literature review of Public Opinion Research on Canadian attitudes towards multiculturalism and immigration, 2006–2009|publisher=Government of Canada|year=2011|access-date=December 18, 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222133226/http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resources/research/por-multi-imm/sec02-1.asp|archive-date=December 22, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.queensu.ca/cora/_files/fc2010report.pdf|title=Focus Canada (Final Report)|publisher=Queen's University|department=The Environics Institute|year=2010|page=4 (PDF page 8)|access-date=December 12, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204231952/http://www.queensu.ca/cora/_files/fc2010report.pdf|archive-date=February 4, 2016}}</ref>

{{external media
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| video1 =[https://globalnews.ca/video/6336235/is-the-left-right-political-spectrum-outdated "Is the Left/Right political spectrum outdated?"] – [[Global News]], 2019 (7:23 mins).}}

At the federal level, Canada has been dominated by two relatively [[Centrism|centrist]] parties practising "brokerage politics",{{efn| name=politics|"Brokerage politics—A Canadian term for successful [[Big tent|big tent parties]] that embody a [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|pluralistic]] catch-all approach to appeal to the median Canadian voter ... adopting centrist policies and [[Electoral alliance|electoral coalitions]] to satisfy the short-term preferences of a majority of electors who are not located on the ideological fringe."<ref name="MarlandGiasson2012">{{cite book|author1=Alex Marland|author2=Thierry Giasson|author3=Jennifer Lees-Marshment|title=Political Marketing in Canada|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GSeSaYPa2A4C&pg=PA257|year=2012|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-2231-2|page=257}}</ref><ref name="CourtneySmith2010">{{cite book|author1=John Courtney|author2=David Smith|title=The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5KomEXgxvMcC&pg=PA195|year=2010|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=978-0-19-533535-4|page=195}}</ref>}}<ref name="Brooks2004">{{cite book|author=Stephen Brooks|title=Canadian Democracy: An Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DeQnPIXV5CEC|year=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-541806-4|page=265|quote= Two historically dominant political parties have avoided ideological appeals in favour of a flexible centrist style of politics that is often labelled brokerage politics}}</ref><ref name="Smith2014">{{cite book|author=Miriam Smith|title=Group Politics and Social Movements in Canada: Second Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iG4rAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA17|year=2014|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-0695-1|page=17|quote=Canada's party system has long been described as a “brokerage system”  in which the leading parties  (Liberal and Conservative) follow strategies that appeal across major [[Cleavage (politics)|social cleavages]] in an effort to defuse potential tensions.}}</ref><ref name="Johnson2016c">{{cite book|author=David Johnson|title=Thinking Government: Public Administration and Politics in Canada, Fourth Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_HzDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|year=2016|publisher=University of Toronto Press|isbn=978-1-4426-3521-0|pages=13–23|quote=...most Canadian governments, especially at the federal level, have taken a moderate, centrist approach to decision making, seeking to balance growth, stability, and governmental efficiency and economy...}}</ref> the [[Centre-left politics|centre-left]] leaning [[Liberal Party of Canada]] and the [[Centre-right politics|centre-right]] leaning [[Conservative Party of Canada]] (or its [[Conservative Party of Canada#Predecessors|predecessors]]).<ref name="BaumerGold2015">{{cite book|author1=Donald C. Baumer|author2=Howard J. Gold|title=Parties, Polarization and Democracy in the United States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uBbvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT152|date= 2015|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-25478-2|pages=152–}}</ref> "The traditional ''brokerage'' model of Canadian politics leaves little
room for ideology"<ref>Christopher Cochrane . (2010). [http://www.jstor.org/stable/40983510 Left/Right Ideology and Canadian Politics]. Canadian Journal of Political Science / Revue Canadienne De Science Politique, 43(3), 583-605. Retrieved January 21, 2021,</ref> as the Canadian [[Big tent|catch-all party]] system requires support from a broad spectrum of voters.<ref name="MarlandGiasson2012"/><ref name="Smith2014"/><ref name="Johnson2016c"/><ref name="Brooks2004"/> The historically predominant Liberals position themselves at the centre of the political scale,<ref name="Gill 2021 p. 485">{{cite journal | last=Gill | first=Jessica K. | title=Unpacking the Role of Neoliberalism on the Politics of Poverty Reduction Policies in Ontario, Canada: A Descriptive Case Study and Critical Analysis | journal=Social Sciences | publisher=MDPI AG | volume=10 | issue=12 | date=Dec 20, 2021 | issn=2076-0760 | doi=10.3390/socsci10120485 | page=485| doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Amanda Bittner|author2=Royce Koop|title=Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdFTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA300|date=1 March 2013|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-2411-8|page=300|quote=Domination by the Centre The central anomaly of the Canadian system, and the primary cause of its other peculiarities, has been its historical domination by a party of the centre. In none of the other countries is a centre party even a major player, much less the dominant....}}</ref><ref name="Johnston2017">{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=Richard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZAwDwAAQBAJ |title=The Canadian Party System: An Analytic History |publisher=UBC Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-7748-3610-4}}</ref>  with the Conservatives sitting on the right and the [[New Democratic Party]] occupying the [[Left-wing politics|left]].<ref name="BittnerKoop2013b">{{cite book|author1=Amanda Bittner|author2=Royce Koop|title=Parties, Elections, and the Future of Canadian Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TdFTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA300|date=1 March 2013|publisher=UBC Press|isbn=978-0-7748-2411-8|pages=300–}}</ref><ref name="EvansGraaf2013">{{cite book|author1=Geoffrey Evans|author2=Nan Dirk de Graaf|title=Political Choice Matters: Explaining the Strength of Class and Religious Cleavages in Cross-National Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bZhcx6hLOMMC&pg=PA166|year=2013|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-966399-6|pages=166–167}}</ref><ref name="Carlisle2005b">{{cite book|author=Rodney P. Carlisle|title=Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bpx2AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA274|year=2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6531-5|page=274}}</ref> Five parties had representatives elected to the federal parliament in the [[2021 Canadian federal election|2021 election]]: the Liberal Party who currently form the government, the Conservative Party who are the [[Official Opposition (Canada)|Official Opposition]], the New Democratic Party, the [[Bloc Québécois]], and the [[Green Party of Canada]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/results-2015/|title=CBC News: Election 2015 roundup|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151022233012/http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/results-2015/|archive-date=October 22, 2015}}</ref>

Polls have suggested that Canadians generally do not have a solid understanding of [[civics]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Jackson |first=Michael D. |title=The Crown and Canadian Federalism |page=11 |year=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZcIf46DzpfUC |access-date=6 June 2014 |publisher=Dundurn Press |isbn=978-1-4597-0989-8}}</ref> This has been theorized to be a result of less attention being given to the subject in provincial education curricula, beginning in the 1960s.<ref>{{Citation |last=Tidridge |first=Nathan |title=Canada's Constitutional Monarchy: An Introduction to Our Form of Government |page=19 |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JvGsvHsAtDgC |location=Toronto |publisher=Dundurn Press |isbn=978-1-4597-0084-0}}</ref> By 2008, a poll showed only 24 per cent of respondents could name the monarch as [[head of state]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=15 December 2008 |title=In the Wake of Constitutional Crisis: New Survey Demonstrates that Canadians Lack Basic Understanding of Our Country's Parliamentary System |url=http://www.dominion.ca/DominionInstituteDecember15Factum.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200612183428/http://www.dominion.ca/DominionInstituteDecember15Factum.pdf |archive-date=12 June 2020 |access-date=18 May 2010 |publisher=Ipsos Reid |place=Toronto |page=1}}</ref> Likewise, Senator [[Lowell Murray]] wrote five years earlier that "the Crown has become irrelevant to most Canadians' understanding of our system of Government."<ref>[[Lowell Murray|Murray, Lowell]]. 2003. ''<nowiki/>'Which Criticisms are Founded?' Protecting Canadian Democracy: The Senate You Never Knew'', edited by S. Joyal. Montreal: [[McGill–Queen's University Press|McGill-Queen's University Press]]. p. 136.</ref> As John Robson of the ''[[National Post]]'' opined in 2015: "Intellectually, voters and commentators succumb to the mistaken notion that we elect 'governments' of prime ministers and cabinets with untrammelled authority, that indeed ideal 'democracy' consists precisely in this kind of [[Plebiscite|plebiscitary]] [[autocracy]]."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Robson |first=John |date=2015-11-03 |title=John Robson: Trudeau's menacing promise of electoral reform |url=https://nationalpost.com/opinion/john-robson-trudeaus-promise-of-electoral-reform-is-menacing |access-date=2022-03-19 |work=National Post |language=en}}</ref>