Skip to main content

Simulation News from Politics 2230E at King's UC at Western

Each end of term when I teach Introduction to Canadian Government and Politics (Pols 2230E) the class performs a simulation. This term it is a First Ministers' Meeting to establish a coordinated plan to combat COVID-19. Keeping it topical helps them engage and some "simulated" news coverage enhances that. Here is the first edition of the Simulation Times, reporting on the first day of meetings and some of the ensuing negotiations. 

Like, many other Canadians, the students in the class have to figure out how federalism works in terms of areas of separate and shared jurisdiction. It is also interesting how often the first response of the group representing the Federal Government is to go with a "draconian" desire for central control, reflecting the real continuing desire of Ottawa to get some sort of control over Confederation. It is an interesting learning moment for them, because without the full hindsight and historical context they don't see using the Emergencies Act as running a chance of creating intergovernmental-conflict that could tear the country apart. However, the unsurprising push back from other groups, quickly brings home the fact that intergovernmental affairs and the federal-provincial balance is a delicate thing and no one really want to open up constitutional negotiations again. 

Further, assigning students to groups with which they have little experience, like the northern territories, is eye-opening. Their assumptions that the rest of Canada is the same or very similar to Southwestern Ontario are quickly smashed, and it brings home the nature of regional inequalities in this country. 

Plus, it's lots of fun. At the end of next term, we take on the national parliament. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is Low Voter Turnout Actually A Good Thing?

 [It's a provocative position. I hope my answer is a bit more nuanced. Thinking with a pen, so the views are my own and likely to change as I think about it a bit more.] The big talking point regarding yesterday's municipal election in London is the free fall debacle in voter turnout. Only 25.5% of eligible voters cast a ballot, a significant plunge from the 40% turnout in 2018 (the BRT election) and from the 2014 high of 43% (the get rid of Fontana and the Fontana 8 election).  This low turnout is seen as the reason for the rather surprising outcomes in some of the words, namely the defeat of three "incumbents."* Incumbents are considered safe bets because they have name recognition and represent the status quo for voters. Generally, the mass of voters in municipal election have little to guide their votes other than name recognition and a desire not to change things up. However, when that "mass" of voters decides not to show up, that generalized support fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Women Mayors in Ontario

 Recently, I've been up-dating the information on women councillors in Ontario. The following table lists the women elected Mayors in the municipal elections held in October 2022. The list is organized in order of descending population of the municipality. It notes whether the Mayor is an incumbent or newly elected, while new position indicates that the Mayor is new to the position, but was an already incumbent member of council.  Of the 417 Ontario Councils which held elections, 101 are now led by women. (There maybe a few I've missed, as I have not included Reeves.) Mayor Incumbent or New Municipality Pop Acclaimed Bonnie Crombie incumbent Mississauga 717,961 Andrea Horwath new Hamilton 569,353 Marianne Meed Ward incumbent Burlington 186,948 Elizabeth Roy new position ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Women on Councils: Majorities and Lockouts

 In this blog myself and my fantastic research assistant, Leila Russell Brown (soon to be an MA student at Western University) break down the Association of Municipalities Ontario (AMO) numbers from the October 2022 Municipal Elections (check out  Ontario Municipal Elections (amo.on.ca) ). Overall, according to the AMO, more women put themselves forward as candidates in 2022, 1,939 or 31% of all candidates. This is compared to 1,808 or 27% in 2018. In total, 6,325 women and men ran in 2022. Women won or were acclaimed in 32.3% of the races, an increase from 29.4% in 2018 (AMO, 2022). This puts women on local councils at just above the 30% marker set by the UN as indicative of a critical mass , the point at which government becomes more responsive to women's needs and women are able to influence key decisions. As the AMO reports, the women who ran were slightly more successful than men in the 2022 elections. The success rate of women was 47.2% compared to 43.8% of men. In 2018,...
Post a Comment
Read more