Political Culture of Canada: A Case Study on Women's Political Participation

Running head: CASE STUDY
The political culture of Canada
Background
Political culture means the collective values or opinions of persons about the term
‘politics.’ The political culture of Canada is diverse as well as multi-layered. It can be defined as
attitudes and beliefs which people of Canada have in the form of political objects. The Canadians
hold the same political ideas in the majority which helps to share their attitudes or values. One of
the characteristics of Canadian political culture is the approach and avoidance of Canada's
relationship with the United States1. The political culture of Canada is based on the tension of
two different cultural groups, English and French. The speaking of English, as well as French of
Canada's political culture, are diverse as both the communities have experienced different
religion, educational system or language. Canadian political culture has a sense of collective
responsibility which is revealed by social programs. The political culture strengthens personal
liberty, constitutional law as well as freedom of religion.
Case revealing political culture
A case of New Brunswick and Saskatchewan influence the political culture on the
participation of women in politics. The governance of Canada wants to create a portrait of
women in politics, but there is an essential impact of region on the participation of women in
politics. The presence of women in the different political provinces is varied due to the changed
provinces. The case of New Brunswick and Saskatchewan is illustrated below:
1 Catherine A. Broom, "Exploring youth civic engagement and disengagement in
Canada." Journal of International Social Studies 6, no. 1 (2016): 4-22.

CASE STUDY 2
The women in Saskatchewan, tend to achieve political posts. Hence, various key posts
are held by the women in the Legislative assembly of Canada. The women in New Brunswick
seems to be unwilling to the conservative traditions, and they usually stay outside of the political
territory. There are some common obstacles which discourage the political participation of
women in both the provinces. However, the case study discusses the essential variances in the
participation of women in politics in the provinces of Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. It will
argue on the regional political culture differences by using various theories of political culture
such as formative events, staples tradition, and the fragment theory.
Actually, in Saskatchewan, women have more presence in the politics of provinces than
the women in New Brunswick. It can be said that the political ground of Saskatchewan seems to
be more receptive for the involvement of women than the political ground of New Brunswick.
The women of Saskatchewan could stand for the election in an earlier period, but women in New
Brunswick could not stand for the election at that time2. The voting rights and running for office
are essential elements in the governance of Canada. The provinces where women were denied to
participate in politics has the belief that women do not belong to politics as well as do not have
the right to raise the voice. Furthermore, women ran the political office of the province
Saskatchewan for more than 50 years whereas, women in New Brunswick ran the political office
for less than 40 years. Surprisingly, the first women for the cabinet minister were selected in
New Brunswick while it was not in Saskatchewan. Women were appointed in various posts like
income assistance, education, family affairs along with childhood services. It appears that
women are more successful after getting posts than the women in Saskatchewan. Then, the
portfolios of the female for the cabinet misters were included in Saskatchewan. The appointment
2Adrienne Davidson, Matthew Lesch, Maxime Héroux-Legault, Tanya Whyte, Zain Asaf, Karol Czuba, and Alesha
Porisky. "Advancing the study of political cleavages through experimentation: Revisiting regionalism and
redistributive preferences in Canada." Regional & Federal Studies 27, no. 2 (2017): 103-125.

CASE STUDY 3
of women for the position of cabinet minister has replicated in the political ground of New
Brunswick in this way. It has been argued that if the women politicians are not appointed in the
post of the cabinet then, it will not develop the representation of elected office. The region is one
of the factors that influences the political participation of women.
Explanation of the political culture
A region refers to a geographical area where a single political culture is included. Canada
is usually classified into various regions such as Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, and Western. Each of
the regions can be differentiated by diverse political cultures. Political culture is a particular
entity which can be examined by using the three approaches named, Louis Hartz’s fragment
theory, Wiseman’s own staples tradition and the formative event method of Seymour Martin
Lipset3.
Findings from the case
As per the Wiseman’s staple tradition, differences in the political participation of women
will be contributed by the variances in staple production among Saskatchewan and New
Brunswick. One of the leading industry of New Brunswick is forestry which is generally viewed
as the occupation for men. As a consequence, women are not present in the majority. The
economic importance of forestry will be politically essential as per the staples theory. Hence, it
can be assumed that a proportion of employees would be made by women in the forestry sector
of New Brunswick. The theory hypothesizes that the women's demotion in forestry drives their
3 Shyon Baumann, Athena Engman, and Josée Johnston. "Political consumption, conventional
politics, and high cultural capital." International Journal of Consumer Studies 39, no. 5 (2015):
413-421.