Canadian And American Government Comparison Essay
Amila Hoang
The Canadian govern themselves in a significant way that is different in comparison to the American government. The two differences I chose to contrast and elaborate on is the difference between culture and the different forms of power.
Canada and American have many different policies in the government regarding culture. Canada is a multicultural country; on the other hand the U.S is mainly a culture of one basics language and culture. Canada has 2 main languages; these two languages consist of English and French. The basics language of the U.S is English. Both governments consist of English as one of their mandatory languages taught in schools. The American government also supports Spanish, they do not consider Spanish as one of the main language. Schools in America offer Spanish education, and some other languages but it isn't mandatory. Canadian government provide citizens with French schools. French part of the curriculum that must be taught to students in schools. The American government teaches Spanish in many schools, but Spanish is not mandatory. In Canada, in the provinceof Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Québec are free to have as many official languages as they please, but they MUST include English and French. Language is just a small part of culture; there is also the religions and Traditions. America and Canada have similar traditions but the difference is behind the celebrations itself. In Canada, thanksgiving is celebrated on the 2nd Monday of October. The meaning of thanksgiving in Canada is to celebrate harvest and blessing of the past year. In America they also celebrate thanksgiving. For the Americans thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, the meaning to thanksgiving to the Americans is somewhat similar. Thanksgiving is a part of their holiday season, they thank god for blessings (days of prayers), military victory or end of drought. In both traditions Thanksgiving is meant to be spent together with your family and having a big feast. That is just one of the many traditions Canadian and the America celebrate. The top religion of Canada is Christianity (67.3%) and there are 23.9% of the population who are non- religious. The top religion in American is also Christianity (76%) and 4% in the other category. Religion may also affect whether people accept gay marriage. In Canada gay marriage is legal country wide, unlike the USA. The USA only allows gay marriage in certain states. In Canada the Charter protects religion, rights, and belief.
America and Canada have different forms of governing their country. The leader of America is the president. The president plays the role of both head of state and head of government. Canada's leader is the prime minister, the prime minister is recognized as the head of government and the head of state is a representative from the queen by the governor general. In America the head of state cannot restrain the American head of government since they are the same person. In Canada the ministers must appear in parliament to defend government bills answer daily questions on government actions of policies and rebut attack on such actions or policies. The head of government in America and Canada are both called different names, the American head of government is considered a president and the Canadian head of government is considered the Prime minister. When electing presidents/prime ministers there are different process to go through. In America The people in each state pick their leaders, (states electing their president) In Canada the members of the party's pick their leader not the people (citizens). Once all the leaders are chosen that is when the individual citizens of Canada may vote who they would like our prime minister to be. Currently our prime minister is Stephan Harper, he is part of the conservative party. American citizens also go through a similar process, once the leaders are elected the whole country may vote on their president. Currently the president of United States is president Barrack Obama, he is the part of the democratic party. Similar to how the head of government have different names in Canada and America, both government system have different names. Canada's government system is called parliamentary cabinet government, and the American government system is called presidential congressional government. Canada's system of government is based on a concentration of powers; oppositely the American government system is based on a separation of powers. The American president cannot be members of the house of congress neither can any member of his party. In the parliamentary government, all government bills must be introduced by a minister or someone speaking on his or her behalf. The parliamentary cabinet government by the contrast is both responsible and responsive. The American system is neither responsible nor responsive. This shows that the systems of government between Canada and America have several differences.
Our government between the American system and the Canadian system may handle certain situations in different ways but both countries have citizens who all live in a very similar lifestyle. We Canada probably have a government system that is most similar to the United States, but yet there are many differences that can be discussed and elaborated about. Canada and America may be very different in many ways but we are still neighbouring countries that will help one another.