A Comparison Of Canada and the USA

Civics 10
Martin Aller-Stead's Students
Monarch Park Collegiate

A Comparison of the Relative Positions of Canadian Political Parties
(Compared to the USA)

Starting Notes:

In policy terms, Canadian parties cover a much wider spectrum than US parties.
There are more Canadian parties than US parties. (A question that emerges from this is; "Does this mean Canada is more democratic than the US because there is more real choice?)

The labels "Left Wing" and "Right Wing" have been put under each country's political party section. Note that the US left wing is still to the right of Canada's right wing, with (perhaps) the exception of some Alliance policies, which would overlap with some policies which, in the US, are seen as very left wing.

The relative positions of the parties and the Venn diagram circles represent the approximate policy position of the named parties. In both Canada and the US there are other, small parties which may have moral suasion but little voting muscle. (An example is the Green Party.) The US shape is compressed, intending to show the relative similarity of the two major parties.

Often in US elections, instead of there being major policy differences, the election really comes down to which bunch of people the voters want to give the levers of power to, whilst in Canada the differences are so blatant and genuine as to make for more opportunity for positional debate between parties, with the possibility of personality taking more of a back seat to policy.

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