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Elections and Outcomes in the United States and
CanadaNational Council for the Social Studies 2016 Conference
Washington, D.C.December 2, 2016
Who is Chris Sands?• Senior Research Professor and Director of the Center for Canadian Studies at the
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a graduate division of Johns Hopkins University• G. Robert Ross Distinguished Visiting Professor of Canada-U.S. Business and
Economic Relations, College of Business and Economics, Western Washington University• Senior Associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies• Board member at the Canada-U.S. Law Institute at Case Western Reserve
University• Former Senior Fellow of the Hudson Institute & the George W. Bush Center
Comparative Politics• Similar countries, so explain a
difference• Different countries, so explain a
similarity• Like learning a foreign language,
this can help you understand your own better
Two National Elections
Canada: October 2015• Parliamentary• Five federal parties• Public Financing, Limits• Simple Ballot, same day• Millennial Generation Rising• Globalization, Innovation, low
commodity prices slow recovery
United States: November 2016• Presidential, Congressional• Two major parties, two minor• Private Financing, Few Limits• Complex ballot, electronic voting• Millennial Generation Rising• Globalization, Innovation slow
recovery
Canada: Features of Interest• People elect a parliament, parliament
elects a government• Cabinet drawn from MPs• Loyal Opposition, 12 seats for official
party status• Party discipline• Prime Minister as Head of
Government, not Head of State• In 2015, 11 week campaign was
Canada’s longest
CanadaAt a glance:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/parliamentarians/en/partystandings
Canada: Questions for discussion• What is the political role of the French-language minority?• How do public financing and a shorter election campaign affect
politics?• Elections Canada and provincial election administrators• How did Canadians view international trade, energy and the
environment in the 2015 election?• How is the Canadian debate over trade and immigration policy
different?
Free DataNanos Research
http://www.nanosresearch.com/library/opinion
United StatesAt a glance:
http://www.fec.gov/portal/presidential.shtml
Free Datahttp://www.people-press.org/2016/08/18/1-voters-general-election-preferences/
Comparison Questions• Both countries elect their chief
executive (US President or Canadian Prime Minister) indirectly. How, and why?• Both Trudeau’s Liberal Party (39.5%)
and Trump (47.5%) won with less than 50 percent of the popular vote. How does this affect the popular legitimacy of the government in each country?
Comparison Questions• In 2015, Canada chose a young (43)
PM; in 2016, the two major party candidates for president were Baby Boomers (Clinton 69, Trump 70). Yet in both countries, Millennial generation voters were the largest voting block in the electorate for the first time. How did the generational shift in the electorate affect the outcome?
Photo credit: Macleans Magazine
Comparison Questions• Justin Trudeau is the son of a
former Canadian Prime Minister; Hillary Clinton is the wife of a former U.S. president. How are political family ties viewed in each case?• Was Clinton unsuccessful in part
because she was female?
Comparison Questions• U.S. parties are “big tents” that
contain mainstream and minority viewpoints. In Canada, parties like the Green Party and the Bloc Québécois exist to voice minority viewpoints in Parliament. • What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each system?
Comparison Questions• Large linguistic minorities play a
role in the politics of Canada and the United States.• How have French speaking
Canadians and Spanish speaking Americans voted to advance their interests?
Comparison Questions• Canada’s public health care system is
popular and supported by all parties; in the United States health care reform is contentious in elections. What explains this difference?
Comparison Questions• In Canada, a federal agency called
Elections Canada handles voter registration and administers elections nationwide and governs campaign finance rules. In the United States, the states administer elections independently, and the Federal Election Commission addresses campaign finance. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?
Elections and Outcomes in the United States and
CanadaNational Council for the Social Studies 2016 Conference
Washington, D.C.December 2, 2016