Introduction
Political parties in Canada play a central role in Canadian governance and democracy; it is a critical link between the state and the society. According to the Canada Elections Act, a political party is “an organization with a fundamental purpose of participating in the public affairs through the endorsement of one of its members as a candidate to vie in an election exercise” (Thorburn 389).
A political party in Canada should fulfill some set conditions, for example; it should nominate a candidate in at least one electoral district, and it should have at least 250 members or electors (Thorburn 389).
Conservatives and the liberals dominate the political system in Canada hence Canada is a multiparty state. The dominance that has been enjoyed by the liberals and the conservatives has been eroded by the emergence of other political parties, which have taken regional lines and are defined by their policies and ideologies.
Canadian Political Parties System
Canadian political parties are not representative, and they do not wholly represent the members of political parties. This is because only a small population of Canadians forms membership of political parties.
Canadian states and society are home to various ethnic groups, races and people of diverse background hence political parties that seek to acquire political power have no choice but to allow themselves to be governed and guided by the social diversity and to establish representation between these various groups and interests. Political parties are responsible for maintaining the strength of unity and diversity of the country.
Canadian political system lacks an organized and a centralized authority, and they are devoid of permanent members. These political parties are run as franchise-style organizations where a team of activists and parochially oriented party organizations of volunteers run their own affairs. The parties are not representative of the interest of the citizens because they are driven by parochial interests of religious or ethnic nature.
The inclusiveness of political parties does not extend to nomination of candidates to political parties. Political parties in Canada have been overtly monopolized by a clique of people (Thorburn 370).
The party system in Canada has always been questionable because the voters do not identify with the existing political parties. This has led to the decline in voter turnout during elections. This is the reason why the Canadian Alliance, the Canadian Action Party and others have called for the increase in the participation of all the citizens in the political activities of political parties.
Parliamentary caucus of the political parties has been considered as unrepresentative of the whole nation not even the representative of their own voters. Political parties have always been fragmented. Parties have been formed to represent the interests of particular group or region of the country (Canadian Encyclopedia 1).
The Canadian political parties have not been effective in the study and articulation of political parties and do not provide the voters with a meaningful chance to participate in the decision-making process. The political parties have only been regarded as electoral machines but do not have any role on policy development.
Conclusion
Political parties should be representative of the citizens and not only to the activist base. Canadian political parties have only been responding to and representative of special-interest groups. Canadian parties can only be inclusive if they serve the interests of the people and through their elected representatives.
Works Cited
Canadian Encyclopedia. Party System. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2012. Web.<https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/party-system>
Thorburn, Hugh. Party Politics in Canada. Toronto: Prentice Hall, 2002. Print.