An Idiot’s Guide to Fun in Ottawa – Part 1

1. An Idiot’s Guide to Fun in Ottawa – Part 1 Far from boring, Ottawa has lots to offer the modern hipster.

2. History and Politics First, the boring stuff.

3. Ottawa? A Capital? Why? • In 1857, Queen Victoria was asked to pick a capital for Canada. • As a compromise between Toronto, the White Anglo Saxon Protestant (WASP) capital of Ontario, then Upper Canada, and Quebec, the French Catholic capital of the province of Quebec, then Lower Canada, she chose Ottawa, then called Bytown. • Ottawa resides in between the two provincial capitals and is further from the American border than either. Thus protecting the capital from American invasion and securing a trade route independent of shared American waterways. • Thus, lifeless Ottawa became populated by bloodsucking politicians and boring bureaucrats. Lame.

4. Ottawa in 1857

5. The Queen • Canada’s Queen is Queen Elizabeth II of the English Commonwealth. • Her Majesty is a symbolic head of state and appears on money. • The monarchy is non-partisan, aims to offer a sense of stability to the political system, and supposedly protect against the abuse of power. • The monarchy is represented in Canada by a Governor General, currently David Lloyd Johnston. • On one end there is a movement to abolish the monarchy, on the other, the populist Conservative government embraces them.

6. Will and Kate • Canada is obsessed with this young couple. • Kate is a plastic goddess and icon to many Canadian women. • See my own star struck moment at http://cbc.sh/g8A4McE

7. Parliament • As the Nation’s Capital, Ottawa’s central focus is the Parliament of Canada. • The beautiful Centre, East and West Blocks of the buildings were built in 1859 and 1866 in a Gothic style, in contrast to the American neo-classical. • After a fire in Centre Block in 1916, it was rebuilt with a new feature, the central Peace Tower.

8. The Prime Minister • The Prime Minister is the leader of the political party that has won a plurality of votes in the federal election. • A simple majority is not needed to form government, rather in the FPTP system having more votes than the other parties suffices. • Canada’s Prime Minister is the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party. • He is the Head of the Government of Canada. • He won the position in 2006 and will hold it for as long as his party continues to win elections (into the foreseeable future), as long as his party supports him and/or at Her Majesty’s, the Queen’s, pleasure.

9. Cabinet • The Prime Minister has a Cabinet of Ministers responsible for various portfolios. Together they form the Executive branch of the Government • It is their duty to head at least one Ministry, Department or Agency. Be it Health, Finance, Industry or Heritage. • They work with the deputy minister, a top bureaucrat, to ensure that the government’s policies are effectively rolled out through the archaic bureaucratic machinery. 

10. The Official Opposition • The Official Opposition usually consists of the second largest party in the House. • Its role is to keep government in check and accountable. To do this, it has a shadow cabinet of critics. Come Question Period, it is their role to ask government difficult questions. • Currently the Official Opposition is the NDP, the social democratic party. It is lead by Thomas Mulcair.

11. House of Commons • The House of Commons is the democratically elected body of Parliament. • Each Member of Parliament (MP) represents a geographical riding, which has voted them in according to a first-past-the-post system. MP terms last as long as the government stands. • There are currently 308 MPs, but in the next election this will rise to 338 so as to more accurately represent the Canadian population according to the rule of representation bypopulation. • MPs gather in the house for Question Period and for official House business, such as votes.

12. Ottawa-Centre’s MP • In Ottawa Centre’s Federal riding, our MP is Paul Dewar of the New Democratic Party (NDP). • He was the Foreign Affairs critic until he left the position to run for leadership of the Party following Jack Layton’s death. • His lack of fluency in French assured that he would not win the position.

13. The Senate • The Canadian Senate is modeled on the English House of Lords. It is meant to offer “sober second thought” to the legislation of the lower house. • It consists of 105 senators appointed by the Governor General on advice from the Prime Minister, in accordance with regional representation. • There is currently a lot of debate regarding the senate and whether it should be elected.

14. The Bureaucracy • The Public Service of Canada exists to enact the will of the Executive. • There are around 200 departments, agencies, councils, crown corporations… • 40% of the Canadian bureaucracy works in Ottawa-Gatineau. • There are approximately 250,000 civil servants. • Many of whom lead sad, boring lives. Though some branch out on weekends to drink away the pain.

15. City Hall • While Federal politics in Ottawa seems to rule the roost, municipal politics are important too. • Currently our Mayor is Jim Watson. You can find out his opinion on a number of issues on his recent Apt613 Ask me Anything Reddit: • http://www.reddit.com/r/ottawa/comments/18vqme/im_jim_watson_mayor_of_the_city_of_ottawa_ask_me/