October 20th 2013

Unit 2: Activity 3: Jackson Jacksonian Democracy

Canadian vs American political systems:

Canadian
American
Election of the prime minister:

-Canadians do not vote directly for their Prime Minister like Americans vote for their President. We instead vote to elect a Member of Parliament (MP) and whoever gets the most votes in a riding is your MP. The party with the most MPs forms the government, with that party’s leader becoming the Prime Minister.

Election of President:

- Americans vote for the candidate of their choice for president, and the winner in each state gets a certain number of Electoral College votes to decide the ultimate winner. The Electoral College must be won by a majority (currently 270 votes) to elect the president. If no candidate wins a majority the election is determined by the House of Representatives.

Frequency of elections for Canadian:

-The Prime Minister and MPs have no fixed term in office, however the Canadian Parliament must have elections every 4 years. The elections are called either by the PM at the 4 year date or he can ask the Governor General to dissolve Parliament earlier, as happened in the last election. Unlike the American Congress our Prime minister can run as many times as he would like after wards.
Frequency of elections for American:

- The President and members of both Houses serve fixed terms. The American Congress also has an election ever 4 years. It occurs on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. In American, the president can only run as president for 2 terms, which is 4 years and after that he is not aloud to run and another election takes place.
Nature of Canadian Senates:

-Senators in Canada are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister and serve until the age of 75.Candidates for the Senate must be at least 30 years old, must have been a citizen for at least nine years, and also live in the province