Hailey's Blog

My Riverside Rapid Digital Portfolio

Month: February 2018

Preferred Roles in Government

Governor General
Senator
MP
Minster
Prime Minister

  1. Governor General

I would choose to be Governor General above any of the other rolls in the government because the only required political background you need is being a Canadian citizen old enough to vote. The amount of money you make is substantial. You are appointed to be governor general by the queen, in order to be appointed you must prove to be an extraordinary citizen, having accomplished something amazing, and I feel that is something the long the lines of who I want to be. The governor general has extreme responsibilities but does not often take advantage of that, so in a way they are quite useless to our system. I would appreciate the lack of pressure this job would give me. Although the public is aware f your role, if something goes poorly the blame is directed towards the prime minister and not to you, so I think that is a benefit of the job.

  1. Senator

I would choose to be a senator second to Governor General. Senators are appointed by the governor general after suggested by the prime minister, they are supposed to represent the people of Canada but often end up being old MP’s. not much experience is required, and the pressure is not too much according to public pressure. You have responsibilities, but they are spread out equally within the senate. Being a senator, you get benefits like any other government job and your pay is amazing

  1. MP

Being MP is my third choice if I were to work in the government. Being a member of parliament is not easy, but the responsibilities are distributed through many and not dependent on you. The pay and benefits from being an MP are large and almost unnecessary.   I would like having a bit of control over what is happening in the government and how it happens, and with making change, you would not be directly under the public eye.

  1. Minster

Being a Minister is my forth choice for jobs in the government. You are given lots of control and responsibility over the government, I would like to have that kind of control without being in the public eye. The pressure is high in terms of making decisions, but the credit is directed to the Prime Minster. In order to be a good minister you have to be aware, educated and highly accountable for your roll in the government.

  1. Prime Minster

 

Being Prime Minister would be my last choice in political careers. I am not interesting in politics, and to become so high up in the government as to be an effective Prime Minister you must have an incredible understanding and knowledge in government and politics. Like any job high up in the government, the pay and benefits are great but with all the social pressure and publicity judging your every move, the money is not worth it to me in the end.

Pressure groups, Petitions, Civil disobedience

Citizens have created many ways for their voices to be heard by the government throughout the year. Some of the more popular strategies to be used are pressure groups and lobbying, petitions and civil disobedience. Pressure group and lobbyists are an effecting group of people with similar beliefs, people who will come together to make a difference or to prove a point. These people are usually people higher up socially or economically, with experience, and or have previous understandings within the government system. Because these individuals participating in the pressure groups are typically respected, there is a good chance with a combined effort of change being made. These groups are effective and powerful but are not always acting to benefit the greater good of others with less of a say. Relating this to a case study about NAFTA, the pressure group involved was made up of a group of business men/ CEO’s who were mainly interested in their own wealth and growth. With their actions, they failed to acknowledge the damage they would be causing to the public, causing an extreme loss of jobs and other negative effects. Over all pressure groups and the use of lobbyists are an effective route to make change, but not always resulting in a fair and or positive outcome.

Petitions are another way to act on an issue. By having a large group of ordinary people sign a petition agreeing to a common issue, you can be sure that it is in the better interests of the public. Although the guide lines to make a valid petition is detailed, they are a simple way to tell the government that there is a public concern within the community. Petitions are a civil and not violent way to make change, but unfortunately have some downsides. They are not always the most reliably way to ask the government to address your issue because by law, the Canadian government is not obliged to address your concern even though they must read it. It is ultimately their decision weather they choose to consult the issue or address it no matter how many people signed off or how compelling the argument may be. Looking back at the HST case study, we see a positive time the petition method worked in a real-life scenario. When Canadians were not happy with the tax change from PST and GST to the 12% HST tax, they held a petition and an election was placed on this topic. In this case the petitions helped give the public a voice and resulted in the HST being repealed.

Lastly civil disobedience is a method used to get attention from the government. Advantages from civil disobedience would be from getting a wide range of attention and hopefully making the change you are working for. civil disobedience is when one, or a group of people break the law for a purpose, taking a stand to make a change. Unfortunately, this has not always worked very well in the past, it is not made to be violent but sometimes will resort to it, ex. Riots, rallies. In the Viola Desmond report, you will read about an extraordinary woman who took stand against racial discrimination by doing a simple act of resistance, through the form of civil disobedience. By simply sitting in the wrong section of a theatre she raised a lot of awareness towards her issue and made todays Canada so much more accepting to people of other races and equal human rights to all. Viola Desmond is proof that civil disobedience does not always have to be about committing a crime, causing an abrupt violent outbreak.

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