Is the Canadian political culture losing its distinctiveness and becoming more

American in character?

Political culture is the collective opinions, values of people and their attitude towards
politics in the country. The culture is defined in two dimensions, that is the individualistic
and the institutional approach to measuring the existing political culture. The individualistic
method is used to scrutinize the attitude and values of people by the use of surveys. However,
this method could be limited because it does not entirely represent the feelings of a vast
population. On the other hand, the institutional method is used to examine the behaviour of
the available political institutions in the country. In the Canadian political culture, an
important feature has been described as the approach and avoidance that entails the
relationship between them and the United States. Some essential Canadian values are those of
shared ethics and human values, some of which are highly held by the political class in the
country (Lipset, 2013). However, Canada is identified as one with a strong political
orientation, but those close to she has influenced this. Therefore, Canadian political culture is
in some ways similar to the United States culture due to influences in their political culture.
Political culture diversities exist between Canadians and the Americans in several
ways but similar in many ways. The political culture in line with the politics that assist urban
development in the two countries could help show the distinction between the two. The more
significant communitarian component used in the Canadian political culture has been used to
tell apart the political culture in the United States. Importantly, the Americans are influenced
by the individualistic nature, populist, classically liberal ideology origin. On the other hand,
Canadian political culture has been identified as one that is group-oriented, deferential and
statist to the authority. From a certain point of view, the ideological character in the United
States and Canada is seen to exist in their political culture in one aspect. However, it is
essential that the political culture is not defined from one side of the common element but

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using the distinctive nature of the characters. Besides, cultural diversity between the two
could be illustrated through the public representation each has for its community.
Canadians have shown similar characteristics in identity like the Americans this
including low voter turnout, no or little confidence in leaders and very high levels of distrust.
Therefore, the political attitudes that existed before are long gone; thus, the tenets of
regionalism could be dynamic. Canadians like the Americans have realized their rights to be
free and make any decisions with the expectation that they won’t harm others in the
community. Besides, there is an intent to let government account for the public funds so that
trust is built between them and the citizens they serve. Such practices are believed to promote
regionalism resolvable by constitutional recognition and institutionalism. Besides, the culture
has had an influence from Edmund Burke on the political traditions and the institutions of the
government in Canada (Cain, 2019). This way, they will be a relationship between the
regional authorities and the central government.
The United States substantive ethical commitments have been developed and
established as life for the public. The system has since barred the participants from public life
and way of clear thinking. Besides, the country uses a procedurals culture that dominates over
public life where the dynamic cultural communities are identified as individual privacy
concerns. It is impossible to express the commonality of the country through the use of a
single community because the pluralism is highly related to communitarianism (Simeon &
Elkins, 1974). On the other hand, Canadian political culture individuals in the villages have
been used and enabled to be the content of the political culture. Thus, there is no clear line
that shows the distinctiveness of the Canadian political cultures stands while challenging
arguments from the Americans. The Canadian culture has recognized and used pluralism
because everybody is assumed to have the same ideologies about governance. Furthermore,

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the people in government are running away from monarchy because of fear that they will be
left out of power.
The Canadian constitution and other enlightenment present a distinction between the
Canadian and American political culture justifying the Canadians are losing to the Americans
influence. This political culture is based on the political presentation of the many different
communities based on the different view of the role of law. A critique by hermeneutic
illustrated a traditionally oriented character in the Canadian culture despite the enlightenment.
The main goals of the constitution are order, peace and good government for the people. This
is similar to the American Revolution that led to the investigation of the constitution. On the
other hand, the American constitution helps the governing authorities to derive their powers
from the constitution written by people. Therefore, the country is highly dominated by two
active political parties.
The government has then influenced public opinion through the commemoration of
the previous centuries as well as holding many public events. Therefore, the political culture
in the United States varies from one area to another making it difficult to avoid pluralism.
Some people in government are identified as polite while others were rude although this
depended on the state from each of them. In line with trade the movement of people from
Canada and the United States has seen the change in attitude and behavior in people due to
interactions and enlightenment of what is best for them as citizens (Lockhart, 2018). This has
significantly affected the political culture in Canada because people feel that they need the
best from their governing structures.
The leading American values include equality, liberty, democracy, individual
responsibility and civic duty, some of which are observed in the Canadian political culture.
Political culture, in most cases, include the ideas of what better citizenship from the people

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due to their defined obligations and rights. However, due to popular myths used by
Canadians, it is impossible to tell whether distinction has been lost to the Americans
influence. According to a historian, the long-term impact of politics introduced values of
“Reds, Rebels and Radicals” (Lipset, 2013). This resulted in the presence of social equity,
egalitarianism and peace something Canadians have moved to demand for their people.
Therefore, the political culture in Canada has changed to be one that fights for equality,
democracy and liberty among the citizens.
In conclusion, Canada and the United States have, in the longest time been trading
partners together with them being in cooperation because of the neighbourhood relation they
hold. Compared to Canada, the United States cannot protect its culture and independence in
matters of politics to a country so powerful and wealthy. Nonetheless, it is essential to
consider that both Canadian and American have had a new development in their politics and
intellectual currents between the two. The political culture in Canada has continuously
changed in the influence of Americans, thus meeting the core values of Americans. The two
have identified the cultural divide that exists between the rural and urban areas so that an
individual’s contribution is felt in the government. Thus, the Canadian political culture is
slowly losing its distinctiveness due to influences by the Americans.

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References

Cain, M. (2019). “What Shadows We Are, and What Shadows We Pursue”: A Study of
Edmund Burke’s Influence on Canadian Political Culture (Doctoral dissertation,
Carleton University).
Lipset, S. M. (2013). Continental divide: The values and institutions of the United States and
Canada. Routledge.
Lockhart, C. (2018). Political culture and political change. Culture matters (pp. 91-104).
Routledge.
Simeon, R., & Elkins, D. J. (1974). Regional political cultures in Canada. Canadian Journal
of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique, 7(3), 397-437.