PSC 345: Canadian Politics

Essay Questions: First Examination


INSTRUCTIONS

LENGTH: 1 page maximum for each essay.

NUMBER OF ESSAYS: Provide an answer to FIVE essay questions of your choice.

VALUE: 5 points for each essay, i.e., 25% of your first examination.

DEADLINE: Friday October 20. (Note: Your first examination is Wednesday October 18)

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: Make sure you answer the ENTIRE question. Refer to lecture notes and required readings. Feel free to use any other sources, as long as you clearly indicate your references. Your answers will be graded for factual content, analytic skill, good argumentation, originality and form. See class link page for style guides.

QUESTIONS:

You must answer FIVE of the following eleven questions:

    1. How did the United Empire Loyalists change the face of Canada?
    2. What is meant by the "Westminster model," and how does it differ from the U.S. system of government?
    3. Do the monarchy and governor general perform a useful function in a democracy? What would be the advantages and disadvantages of no longer recognizing the Queen as Canada's Head of State? What alternatives to the monarchy would you propose?
    4. Is it fair to allow the Prime Minister to choose the date of an election? Why? Why not?
    5. If you were voting in the next Canadian elections, which party would you support? Why?
    6. Was Lord Byng de Vimy justified in 1926 in refusing to grant Prime Minister McKenzie King a dissolution of Parliament?
    7. Is the prime ministership becoming increasingly presidentialized? In the absence of the American system of checks and balances between president and Congress, what constraints must the prime minister live with?
    8. Should cabinet solidarity be relaxed? Should ministers have to defend a budget they had so little part in drafting?
    9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of rigid party discipline in the House of Commons? What are the real reasons for this rigid party discipline?
    10. What are the pros and cons of the Triple-E Senate?
    11. Do the prime minister and cabinet, backed up by a majority in the House of Commons, have too much power in the Canadian System of government?