Canadian Politics 101: Philosophical Foundations of Canadian Democracy

Welcome to Longform North -- a longform interview podcast featuring Canadian voices and stories about Canada.

On this inaugural episode, we're talking about the origins and foundation of Canada's political system.

Canada is a parliamentary democracy, and this system inherits from traditions and ideas that are much older than Canada itself.

But what are those ideas, where did they come from, and how are they influencing the way our political system works?

Joining me to talk about all this is Dr. Tom MJ Bateman. He is a professor of political science at St Thomas University, and he is one of the co-authors of a book called The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy.

Some of the topics we discuss include:

• Why it's important to have a politically educated public in a democracy
• The historical cycle of democracies leading to demagoguery and tyranny
• The influence of the United States civil war on Confederation and the Canadian founders' caution around having "too much democracy"
• The importance of economic well-being and education in order to sustain democracy
• Tensions between (enforced) economic equality and personal liberty
• John Stuart Mill's On Liberty and its influence in shaping Canada's principle of liberty
• The Canadian Constitution, both the written and unwritten rules that make it up
• The fact that the Prime Minister is not mentioned in the Canadian Constitution
• How constitutional conventions (unwritten rules and traditions) work
• A brief history of the patriation of Canada's constitution

Links:

• The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy
• Dr. Tom MJ Bateman

*Note: This episode was recorded on December 30th, 2024 (a few weeks before Justin Trudeau prorogued parliament).

For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com

Music by Aaron Barth

Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten