The Current Canadian Political Parties and Climate in Relation to the Role of the State
Canada is a multi-cultural federal country. Since its establishment, Canada has formed its own unique political system. In terms of the political parties and their governance, three major political parties, namely the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party, and the New Democratic Party, have been formed, in which the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party take turns in governing. This article focuses on the differences in ideology and policy among the three political parties, as well as how these differences have been related to the changes of the role of the state in Canada's political climate caused by the victory of the Liberal Party in 2015.
Canada's ideology is divided into three main groups. The first is relatively neutral liberalism, which pursues the freedom and equality of individualism. The Liberal Party, the current ruling party, is the representative party of liberalism. According to their political policy, the Liberal Party believes that the state has a positive effect on the free development of their people and that the state should safeguard the interests and rights of all citizens and cultures existing in Canada (Clarkson et al., 2012). According to the lecture on liberalism, the government should respect the private sector, but it also needs to promote the overall interests of society through state intervention when necessary.
The second stream is the left-wing social democracy which pursues the freedom and equality of collectivism and emphasizes the intervention and function of the state. The representative party of social democracy in Canada is the New Democratic Party. From the perspective of the party's policy, it is clear that they support the mixed economy and believe that the public sector should regulate the private sector and directly control economic activities when necessary (“New Democratic Party,” n.d, para.1).
The third main ideology is right-wing conservatism. Conservatism in Canada is divided into “traditional” conservatism and progressive conservatism. The former advocates reducing the state's restraint on individuals, minimizing state intervention, opposing radical changes in government and social system and pursuing the economic framework of the free market. It holds that the government should not interfere in the operation of the market at will, but let the capital market decide the distribution of social wealth and power spontaneously, advocating individualism, and holding that inequality among human beings is natural (Christian, 2006). Progressive conservatism emphasizes the parallelism of collective value and individualism and attaches importance to the order, tradition and stability of provincial cooperation. The former representative party of progressive conservatism was the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, but in 2003, “it merged with the Canadian Alliance to form the Conservative Party of Canada” (“Progressive Conservative Party of Canada,” n.d, para.3).
From the above-detailed analysis for three major political ideologies in Canada, it is evident that these three parties have held divergent political views toward various sectors of the country, especially in the field of economics and state intervention. In fact, it is the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party's different political views on economic issues that have led to the change of political situation in Canada.
On October 19, 2015, Canada held the 42nd federal parliamentary elections, in which the Conservative Party was replaced by the Liberal Party, and the transfer of political power finally reappeared in Canada nine years later. The Liberal Party succeeded in forming a majority government with more than 170 seats in the House of Commons; the Conservative Party lost 100 seats and formally became the opposition; the New Democratic Party dropped to the third place (Ives, 2015).
In terms of internal affairs and economy, the Liberal Party has changed the Conservative Party’s traditional market economic model of tax reduction to their "interventionist" economic policy without overemphasizing fiscal balance. At the same time, they also increased infrastructure construction and public financial investment, aiming to strengthen the middle class. Regarding social policy, the Liberal Party began paying attention to environmental protection and climate change and set up a new post of "Minister of Environment and Climate Change" in the Cabinet to reduce greenhouse climate emissions (Ji, 2016). Since 2015, people can see that the Liberal Party has relaxed immigration control, attached importance to the interests of aborigines, increased investment in Aboriginal education and infrastructure construction and supported the legalization of abortion and cannabis. Therefore, it is evident that under the governance of the Liberal Party, the current Canadian political climate is on the left-wing, focusing on reiterating the role of the state in the economic field and the daily infrastructure.
加拿大是一个多元文化的联邦国家。自成立以来，加拿大已经形成了自己独特的政治体系。在政党及其执政方面，已经形成了三个主要政党，即自由党，保守党和新民主党，自由党和保守党轮流执政。本文着眼于三个政党在意识形态和政策上的差异，以及这些差异与自由党在2015年获胜所致的加拿大在加拿大政治气氛中的角色变化之间的关系。
加拿大的意识形态分为三个主要类别。首先是相对中立的自由主义，它追求个人主义的自由和平等。现任执政党自由党是自由主义的代表党。根据他们的政治政策，自由党认为国家对人民的自由发展具有积极影响，国家应维护加拿大境内所有公民和文化的利益和权利（Clarkson等，2012）。 。根据关于自由主义的演讲，政府应尊重私营部门，但在必要时也需要通过国家干预来促进社会的整体利益。
第二流是左翼的社会民主主义，它追求集体主义的自由和平等，并强调国家的干预和功能。加拿大社会民主主义的代表党是新民主党。从党的政策的角度来看，很明显，它们支持混合经济，并认为公共部门应规范私营部门，并在必要时直接控制经济活动（“新民主党”，第d.1段）。
第三个主要意识形态是右翼保守主义。加拿大的保守主义分为“传统”保守主义和进步保守主义。前者主张减少国家对个人的约束，最大程度地减少国家干预，反对政府和社会制度的根本性变革，并追求自由市场的经济框架。它认为政府不应随意干预市场的运作，而应让资本市场自发地决定社会财富和权力的分配，提倡个人主义，并认为人与人之间的不平等是自然的（Christian，2006）。渐进的保守主义强调集体价值和个人主义的平行性，并重视省合作的秩序，传统和稳定性。前进步保守主义的代表党是加拿大进步保守党，但在2003年，“它与加拿大联盟合并组成了加拿大保守党”（“加拿大进步保守党”，n.d，第3段）。
从以上对加拿大三种主要政治思想的分析中可以看出，这三个政党对加拿大各部门，特别是在经济和国家干预领域，持有不同的政治观点。实际上，是保守党和自由党对经济问题的不同政治观点导致了加拿大政治局势的变化。
2015年10月19日，加拿大举行了第42届联邦议会选举，其中保守党由自由党取代，九年后终于在加拿大重新出现了政权移交。自由党成功地在下议院组建了拥有170多个席位的多数政府。保守党失去了100个席位，正式成为反对派。新民主党跌至第三位（Ives，2015）。
在选举期间，经济已成为辩论的中心因素。在选举中，保守党在加拿大对2008年全球金融危机的成功反应中表现出了领导才能，称自由党和新民主党将给加拿大经济带来灾难（艾夫斯，2015年）。事实上，加拿大银行体系以其对外国金融危机的高度抵抗力而闻名，加拿大经济的快速发展很大程度上归因于国际油价高企（Ji，2016）。近年来，加拿大的高科技产业也缺乏发展。特别是自2014年下半年以来，世界经济复苏乏力以及国际油价和其他大宗商品价格的急剧下跌暴露了加拿大经济的结构性弊端。 2015年上半年，经济陷入技术性衰退。保守党政府几乎没有做任何事情，而且一直强调平衡预算的实施。相反，自由党建议将年收入超过20万加元的高收入阶层的税率从29％提高到33％，而中产阶级的税率应从22％至20.5％（Ji，2016）。尤其是在大选的高潮时期，鉴于加拿大当前的经济衰退，自由党大胆而果断地建议在未来三年中每年实施赤字100亿加元，并投资1250亿加元。未来10年在基础设施建设方面的投资（Ives，2015年）。刺激增长以刺激消费。可以说这次大选是加拿大选民否认保守党政府的经济政策，肯定了自由党的经济政策。
在内部事务和经济方面，自由党在不过度强调财政平衡的情况下，将保守党的传统减税市场经济模式改为其“干预主义”经济政策。同时，他们还增加了基础设施建设和公共财政投资，旨在加强中产阶级。在社会政策方面，自由党开始关注环境保护和气候变化，并在内阁设立了新的“环境与气候变化部长”以减少温室气体排放（Ji，2016）。自2015年以来，人们可以看到自由党放松了移民管制，重视土著居民的利益，增加了对土著教育和基础设施建设的投资，并支持堕胎和大麻合法化。因此，很明显，在自由党的领导下，当前的加拿大政治气氛处于左翼，侧重于重申国家在经济领域和日常基础设施中的作用。
References
Clarkson, S., & Azzi, S., & Mccall, C. (2012, January 17). Liberal Party. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/liberal-party.
Christian, W. (2006, February 6). Conservatism. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/conservatism
Ives, A. (2015). The Canadian general election of 2015: The Liberal victory marks a swing back to the center in Canadian politics. IdeAs Idées d’Amériques, (6), Retrieved from http://journals.openedition.org/ideas/1253.
Ji, L. (2016). The trend of political characteristics and future policy of Canadian political parties after the general election of 2015. Reforms and Opening, (3). DOI 10.16653/j.cnki.32-1034/f.2016.06.032
The editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.) New Democratic Party. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/New-Democratic-Party-political-party
The editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. (n.d.) Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Progressive-Conservative-Party-of-Canada
