Deck 13: Elections and the electoral system

Question 1

How does the discrepancy between seats won and popular vote affect political parties?

A)It results in party policies being directed only to areas where seats were won.
B)It results in distorted party leader selection.
C)It results in a broad representation of women and minorities.
D)It results in parties catering to areas where seats were lost.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What was the first election finance scandal to come to light in Canada?

A)the Beauharnois scandal
B)the Rivard scandal
C)the Gagliano scandal
D)the Pacific scandal

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Who is in charge of the election process?

A)the governor general
B)the prime minister
C)the chief electoral officer
D)the elections commissioner

Answer 3

C

Question 4

A province cannot have fewer Commons seats than it has provincial legislators.

Question 5

What is the typical time frame between elections in Canada?

A)3 years
B)4 years
C)5 years
D)10 years

Question 6

Manipulating constituency boundaries so as to ensure as far as possible the re-election of the members of the government party is known as glad-handing.

Question 7

Based on calculations, what is the projected total number of seats that will be available in the House of Commons after the 2015 elections?

A)308
B)318
C)328
D)338

Question 8

How many times in Canadian history has the governor general refused to comply with the Prime Minister's request to dissolve Parliament?

A)never
B)one time
C)two times
D)three times

Question 9

What type of government is most often produced by the first-past-the-post electoral system?

A)minority
B)dual party
C)popular
D)majority

Question 10

In the first two elections after Confederation, people voted orally and were subject to bribery and intimidation.

Question 11

The Conservatives had virtually no members from Quebec before 1984.

Question 12

Who is disqualified from the voting process?

A)prisoners
B)people with mental disabilities
C)judges
D)chief electoral officers

Question 13

What is NOT necessary for an individual to be nominated as a party's candidate?

A)being endorsed by the party leader
B)filing a financial statement
C)getting 100 local names on his or her nomination papers
D)paying a $1000 deposit

Question 14

The first-past-the-post system has been criticized for promoting the overrepresentation of white males.

Question 15

Prime Minister Harper eliminated all contributions made by corporations and trade unions to elections, nominations, and leadership candidates.

Question 16

Strategic voting is most common in the first-past-the-post electoral system.

Question 17

The percentage of all votes cast that is won by a candidate or a party, regardless of who was elected, is called the qualified majority.

Question 18

Jean Chrétien's new election finance reforms virtually eliminated corporate contributions.

Question 19

The three territories are each given one seat automatically.

Question 20

Which statement is NOT an outcome of a mixed member proportional election system?

A)It would increase the representation of women and minorities.
B)It would result in wider representation within the Cabinet.
C)It would produce majority governments.
D)It would make every vote count.

Question 21

What are some of the similarities and differences in the discrepancies between seats and votes at the national and provincial levels?

Question 22

Describe Canada's "first past the post" electoral system.What are the advantages and disadvantages of this system?

Question 23

What remedies to Canada's electoral system have been proposed to better reflect the distribution of the popular vote?

Question 24

Describe how election financing has evolved since pre-1974?

Question 25

What are the primary functions of an election in the Canadian political system?