Introduction
The representation of interests groups in the Canadian society shows how the society influences its political system and the policies it comes up with. Interest groups in Canada have evolved with time giving them immense power as representative groups for the society.
However, the way interests grow and develop largely depends on the structure that exists between government and societal values. This article will examine the various ways through which interest or advocacy groups either help or hinder democracy within Canada with a brief comparison to those in the U.S.
Advocacy/Interest Groups
To clearly understand the role played by interests or advocacy groups in Canadian politics, one has to first understand the meaning of advocacy/interest groups. An interest group is any group of individuals who have come together to pressurize a given governing structure in order to achieve a common goal or benefit. For any government to deal with the huge responsibilities given to it by its people, it has to work hand in hand with all the major sectors in all the national institutions.
These sectors comprise the interest groups, who get power from their interaction with the government. These interest groups provide knowledge and organizational skills that the government needs in order to satisfy the needs of its people in a process that is easily comprehensible. The present day interest groups are made up of groups with single issues or even individual influences. In these groups, each interest is taken to express the goal of a group of people combined to achieve certain goals (Dyck 397).
Single interest groups do not usually have the necessary government knowledge to further their objectives. They, therefore, tend to use extreme actions or the media to obtain their goals. Such groups usually disintegrate once their goals are achieved. Using extreme actions to pass across their message makes them unpopular especially to the bureaucrats and therefore, do not last long. They depend on the public for their survival. Those single groups that stay on usually end up merging with others with the same or similar interest.
Merged interest groups usually have a strong financial base that allows them to hire experts with knowledge in government issues. Such experts can comprise of public relations staff, lawyers or even public policy experts. Organized interest groups usually try as much to avoid extreme actions or using the media, rather they use formal briefs to further their agendas. Organized groups also tend to be more competent in political issues although, the institutionalized groups are more effective (Dyck 401).
Advocacy/Interest Groups in Canada
Canada has many groups that further public interest. They are referred by many terms, some call them interest groups, others pressure groups and still others call them advocacy groups. The most prominent of these groups in Canada are the “Canadian Labor Congress and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce” (Dyck 398) and many others.
Other institutions and even corporations sometimes make demands for certain policies in government. The political party is another important group that greatly influences politics in Canada. Many people usually join political parties or even finance their political activities with the hope that it will pass their concerns to the government. It becomes even better if the said party forms the government because it will then incorporate those concerns in the government policies.
If the party doesn’t make it to power, it can still articulate those concerns as an opposition party through parliament or the media. Concerns from citizens are usually responded to in times of election campaigns in an effort to woe large support by pledging to address their demands once in power. Groups that are not satisfied with the way existing parties are addressing their concerns usually create their own parties as it happened in the 1990s in Canada when the Canadian Alliance was formed (Dyck 398).
The media is one other pressure group that transmits people’s concerns to the government. In most cases the media has been outstanding in publishing controversial issues in government. It has been in the forefront in pointing out government failures. The media usually concentrate on the single or group issues everyday. They oversee coverage of the activities of political parties especially during campaigns for elections.
The most important role played by the media, however, lies in the fact that it strives on a daily basis to enlighten the electorate about the government and politics in general. By doing this, we can say that the media is responsible for shaping the general political environment in the Canadian society (Dyck 7).
Many interest groups usually fight for minority representation in government. In democracies, citizens usually choose their governments through a majority vote. However, governance is usually followed with the uncertainty that minority groups in the society might be protected.
This is why interest groups come in, in most of the democratic units with the aim of representing the interest of the minority who may be sharing conflicting views on government policies. These people usually apply what is called the theory of pluralism, which is founded on four tenets. The first one is that every individual is entitled to an equal access to political and policy making process. It simply means that every individual has a right to be heard.
The second tenet says that a conflict must exist between the people and the government so that interest groups can come up to address the conflicts. Thirdly, there must be societal fragmentation. Absence of fragmentation will imply that Canadian society will only be comprised of people with same agendas, meaning that there will be no need for interest groups to represent minority concerns. Lastly, the state should be neutral when addressing the concerns of the different interest groups (Dyck 12).
Pluralist Approach
Many have argued that the pluralist approach fits the Canadian system of governance. One reason is that Canada has been and is still a diversified society especially in terms of religious and ethnic diversity. Many of the interests groups in Canada today are fighting for their place in the society.
The interest groups that include “women, French Canadians, Aboriginals, minority ethnic groups, and non-Christian religious groups” (Dyck 13) have come up to question elitism carried from the past. These interest now form part of the Canadian politics, in fact, they have gone to the extent of challenging constitutional clauses that undermine some groups. Government authority is limited by use of checks on political institutions.
It is true that many Canadians do not participate actively in the political process, but they have always exhibited “the desire to be heard” (Dyck 13). As already mentioned, there are many interest groups in Canada most of which, actively engage in politics. This has seen most of the activities from the government emerging as responses from the demands of these interest groups. In fact, interest groups in Canada have displaced political parties in a number of areas (Dyck 13).
However, others think that interest groups bring about disparities in the way resources or opportunities are distributed among them. It’s only a few interest groups that speak for the less fortunate, another few deal with the concerns of the working people. Those lying in the middle class have no representation or group to voice their concerns.
This, in a way, can be said to be limiting the democratic space for the middle class citizens instead of expanding it to all as the pluralist approach suggests. There is also the issue business interests in Canada organizing their own pressure groups, to the extent that these groups wield greater powers that the political system thereby influencing policy making along their line of interest (Dyck 399).
We have already seen that interest groups play a great role in the political process in Canada especially during elections. The political environment is usually determined by the way citizens relate with the politicians. The cabinet usually weighs among the interest the best to meet their goal which is reelection. They do this using the opinion polls that classify the different concerns borne by the voters.
Those policies that conflict with the interest of the citizens are usually avoided; instead, they deal with those that will best serve the interests of the people thanks to pressure from interest groups. This means that governance is greatly influenced by pressure from interest groups. This happened in the 2008 election where NDP won the Edmonton-Strathcona election because it respondent to the demands from the Canadian Federation of Students (Dyck 15).
Canada neither uses pluralism nor cooporatism in its political system. Instead, it combines both pluralism and cooporatism whereby it gives certain interests groups, power to speak or bargain for respective areas of interest. It then intervenes by creating policies that address their concerns. However, this system does not work for all the Canadians.
Business groups for instance, are the major influencers of political issues in Canada because they usually give handsome tips to politically parties so that they can support their interests. For instance, in 1999, business interest groups gave over 12 million dollars to political parties. As a result, politicians only listen to and act on those interests groups that “matter” especially if the groups have conflicting interests.
Political parties usually promises favors or contracts to businesses once in office, as such, government policies usually lean towards the wishes of the business interest groups. Those businesses that feel their concerns are ignored usually join in forcing the government to address them as it happened in 1981 when the business community disputed the MacFachen budget. Therefore, it is only the big businesses and influential interests groups that get their way on most occasions.
Just like Canada, the US is also a diversified society and therefore consists of groups of different interests that may not be addressed by the government. In the US, these groups include civil rights groups, religious groups, the gay and the lesbians and the ethnic minorities.
Both the public and the private sector in these two countries have recognized the importance of interest groups in their societies. In both countries, the interest groups have broadened traditional politics by allowing minority groups or disadvantaged groups to take part in the political process, which they would not gain access to if it is just left the elite few.
Just as in Canada, the US has well to do interest groups that try to influence the political process so as to further their own agendas. However, there are those interest groups that have come together by creating support networks in their communities, provinces or states so that to make sure that the concerns of all the citizens are addressed. Interest groups therefore, have formed the foundation of democracy in both Canada and the United States.
Both governments have recognized that some interest groups require funding in order to participate on a level playing field with the monied business groups and other advocacy groups. They therefore provide them with necessary funds to fight for the economic good for all. However, government intervention is more pronounced in Canada than in the US.
Conclusion
We have seen that public interest groups play a critical role in making sure that all citizens in Canada compete on a level playing ground, are represented in the countries institutions, and participate in the countries political process. As much as some few interest groups might wield greater influence, the minority representative groups also have their say in one way or the other.
Governments have come in handy by providing necessary funding to groups fighting for the interests of the public. Influencing the government to put in place mechanisms, that enhance equality and also quality life to all, means that, interest groups promote democracy in Canada, they force the political process to follow or be inclined towards addressing the concerns affecting all the people in the Canadian society.
Work Cited
Dyck, Rand. Canadian Politics. Ontario, Canada: Nelson Education Limited, 2008. Print.