External Environment and Canadian Politics 2011

External Environment and Canadian Politics 2011

Canada is linked to the rest of the world by all sorts of economic, political, defensive, cultural, demographic, and individual ties. These ties are what constitute the global environment for the Canadian political system.[Dyck pg.217] Since the Europeans colonized Canada it has been exposed to a multitude of influences and pressures. This paper looks at the extent of that influence, in trade, terrorism, the environment, media and the preservation of Canadian culture and identity. I will discuss these topics and how they are incorporated in the NDP, Liberal, Conservative, and Green parties 2011 election platforms with reference to the textbook : Canadian Politics Critical Approaches written by Rand Dyck. Furthermore I will also discuss issues that were addressed in the text book but not in the political platforms. These issues include; the CBC, the CRTC and the Canadian film and magazine industry and acid rain.

External trade constitutes about 35% of Canada's GDP and provides about 25% of all jobs. (Dyck, pg.231) The Conservative platform proposed plans to sign free trade agreements with the European Union by 2012 and India by 2013. These two agreements will give Canadian businesses greater access to markets totalling more than 1.7 billion people with a combined GDP of $20 trillion, creating thousands of jobs for Canadians. (Conservative, pg. 11) The Conservative government has extensive trade plans across the sea, but in his platform he also proposes to strengthen the transportation of goods on home soil so that the large influx of goods from across seas could be accommodated. The plans include; implement the Atlantic Gateway and Trade Corridor Strategy and an Ontario-Quebec Continental Gateway and Trade Corridor Strategy, both to promote and strengthen Canada's trade and transportation infrastructure. (Conservative, pg. 13) The Liberals also had their own strategy of tightening ties with the European Union, China and India, called the "Global Network Agreement" which would mandate exchanges that reach beyond imports and exports. Collaborative projects in higher education, clean technologies, culture, public health, food safety and security, transportation, trade logistics and governance would be put into motion. (Liberal pg. 77) The Liberals also proposed to thicken the flow of trade through the border to the United States.

The NDP and Green Party had no mention of international trade in their platform.

Canada passed a comprehensive piece of anti-terrorism legislation that gave sweeping powers to the government, threatening individual freedoms and it was also persuaded to become part of the military operations in Afghanistan. (Dyck, pg. 222) In this instance the Conservative platform states that it wants to reintroduce this legislation and they back it by saying "we need to give law enforcement the tools they need to investigate and prevent acts of terrorism" (Conservative, pg. 36) The Conservative platform continues to go on about a National anti-terrorism strategy in which "will protect our country from terrorism through effective coordination among Canada's security agencies, all levels of government, law enforcement, community stakeholders and our international partners." (Conservative, pg. 37) Some aspects of our existing legislature have been abolished by courts; because a few suspected terrorist have been convicted. (Dyck, pg. 222) The Liberals, NDP and Green Party platforms have no mention of modifying or creating any anti-terrorism legislation, in fact the term terrorism doesn't even come up in their platform, and I think it rightly so.

An issue that all the parties touched on was the environment. Furthermore, all political parties had addressed a plan to retrofit homes with more energy efficient infrastructure. Each had their own ideas on how to accomplish it. The Liberal government were willing to provide up to $13,500 in tax credits if you qualified for green renovations.[1] The Conservatives ecoENERGY retrofit program consisted of providing homeowners grants of up to $5000 to offset the costs. (Conservative, pg. 27) The NDP and Green party did not specify saving in their platforms nor on their websites. The largest and most elaborate scheme for the protection of the environment came from the Liberal party. Their grand plan was to set in motion the Canadian Clean Energy Partnership. The objectives were; managing long-term transition to the low-carbon economy of the future, helping families advance in energy efficiency and conservation, encouraging Canadian businesses to become more competitive through energy efficiency and sustainability, securing clean technology jobs in Canada and doing our fair share in global climate change (Liberal pg. 44). The Liberal party proposed to invest one billion dollars in renewable energy infrastructure by 2017, cleaner more sustainable oil sand development, and a cap and trade system