Canada and Australia

In my Canadian politics class I usually emphasize to my students that Canada's political system, along with its political culture, falls somewhere between those of the United Kingdom and the United States. Like the former, we have a Westminster-style parliamentary-cabinet system centred on the longstanding convention of responsible government. Like the latter we are a federal system prescribing a division of powers between two levels of government.

But it may be that I should shift my focus to Australia, with which we have a great deal in common. Australia shares these characteristics with Canada: Both countries are constitutional monarchies recognizing the same Queen as head of state. Both have Westminster-style constitutions, and both are federal systems. Moreover, our two countries have something else in common as well, as I have recently learnt. This can be seen in the breakdown of seats in the lower chambers of the two Parliaments. Canada first:

Ontario - 103 seats
Québec - 75 seats
B.C. - 34
Alberta - 26
Manitoba - 14
Saskatchewan - 14
New Brunswick - 10
Nova Scotia - 11
Newfoundland - 7
P.E.I. - 4
N.W.T. - 1
Nunavut - 1
Yukon - 1

Total - 301

Notice that together Ontario and Québec can easily dominate the Commons. For the past ten years we have had Liberal majority governments based mostly on the huge number of seats in Ontario. These numbers will change after the forthcoming federal election.

Now to Australia:

New South Wales - 50
Victoria - 37
Queensland - 27
Western Australia - 15
South Australia - 12
Tasmania - 5
Northern Territory - 2
Aus. Capital Terr. - 2

Total - 150

Note once again that together the two states of New South Wales and Victoria outnumber the representatives of the other states and territories combined. But here's a difference: Australia has an elective upper chamber, the Senate, which represents the states on an equal basis, just like the US Senate. This helps to compensate the other states for their lower population and enhances their power at the centre of government in Canberra. However, here in Canada we have an appointive Senate whose members are effectively named by the Prime Minister. This leaves the eight smaller provinces and three territories with less power in Ottawa than they might otherwise have in a balanced bicameral parliament.

This is why Senate reform is such a big issue here. Unfortunately, despite the fact that few Canadians like the Senate as it is currently set up, we cannot come to agreement on how to reform it. Thus we are stuck for now with the status quo and a somewhat less than balanced federal system.