SS 11 – Choosing a Government
Counterpoints, p 249-52
Review: Discuss with a partner…
•What is a Triple E Senate?
•What do you think should be done with Canada’s Senate?
Step 1: Nomination
•
•
Each political party selects one
candidate to run in each electoral district*
in the election.
Who chooses the candidates? (see p
250)
*AKA Riding, Constituency
Step 2: Campaigning
• the process of trying to gain the support of
Canadian voters.
– Conferences
– Rallies
– television debates
– TV and radio commercials
Here is Liberal leader Stephane
Dion campaigning.recently.
– Meetings
– Going “door to door” to meet citizens
There are rules about how much money each party can
spend campaigning (see figure 10-3, p 250)
Step 3: Voting
• the process of choosing your representative in
government.
• This is called “casting your ballot”.
– The Ballot is the piece of paper with your choice
on it.
Voting
• Voting is done by ‘secret ballot’.
A voting dilemma
• Should I vote for the best candidate in my
electoral district or …
• Should I vote for the party with the leader I
like the best or…
• Should I vote the “lesser of two evils”, the
party that has the best chance to win, but
is not my first choice?
Discuss: What would you do?
Step 4: Tabulation
• the process of counting all the votes after
the ballots have been cast.
• The winner in each electoral district is the
candidate with the most votes (a system
called ‘first past the post’)
• If there is only one candidate, then he/she
wins automatically by ‘acclamation’.
If