Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the “Submit my answers” button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:

Which of the following is not one of the functions of political parties?
a) Organization of a government
b) Organizing public opinion
c) Structuring the vote
d) Promoting interests by attempting to influence government
e) Integrating citizens into a political system

Question 2:

What does the term “brokerage” politics refer to?
a) Flexible centrist style of politics
b) Right-wing politics
c) Left-wing politics
d) Ideological politics
e) Totalitarianism

Question 3:

What is the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF)?
a) The predecessor of the Liberal Party
b) The predecessor of the Conservative Party
c) The predecessor of the Progressive Conservative Party
d) The predecessor of the Green Party
e) The predecessor of the New Democratic Party

Question 4:

Which of the following was not one of the elements of the National Policy of 1878–1879?
a) Encouragement of western settlement
b) Implementation of a protective tariff
c) Decentralization of the federation
d) Creation of a transcontinental railroad
e) All of the above were elements of the National Policy of 1878-1879

Question 5:

Which two groups formed the coalition that was the predecessor to the Liberal Party?
a) Rouges and Progressives
b) Blancs and Democrats
c) Clear Grits and Blancs
d) Clear Grits and Rouges
e) Progressives and Clear Grits

Question 6:

What does the term “patronage” refer to?
a) A major policy announcement
b) The control of government largesse
c) Deliberately acting to interfere with the internal functioning of an opposition party
d) Fundraising in other countries
e) None of the above

Question 7:

French political sociologist Andre Siegfried observed that political life in Canada was preoccupied with which of the following two issues?
a) Regional interest and rights
b) Public works and rights
c) Material interest and public works
d) Regional interest and material interest
e) Public works and regional interest

Question 8:

The origins and development of the Reform party in western Canada in the late-1980s and 1990s were in response to what?
a) The gun control law
b) MPs pensions
c) CF-18 contract
d) All of the above
e) None of the above

Question 9:

Which of the following was not part of the Reform Party’s platform?
a) Protectionist tariffs
b) MP recall
c) Greater use of referendums
d) Relax party discipline
e) Choice to opt out of MPs pensions

Question 10:

What is the role of “minor” parties such as the Reform/Alliance or CCF in Canada’s brokerage party system?
a) To absorb defeated candidates
b) To provide enough competition for an election to be legally held
c) To recruit
d) To create new policies
e) To control Parliamentary decision-making

Question 11:

Which of the following was not an element of the realignment argument made in the aftermath of the 1993 federal election?
a) The PC Party seen as a much weaker entity without Mulroney as its leader
b) Voters’ dissatisfaction with brokerage-style politics
c) Weakness of party loyalty among voters
d) The erosion of the NDP’s support across the country
e) All of the above were elements.

Question 12:

Which of the following was the only party to succeed in practising old brokerage style politics in the 1993, 1997, and 2000 elections?
a) New Democratic Party
b) Canadian Alliance
c) Bloc Quebecois
d) Progressive Conservative Party
e) Liberal Party

Question 13:

Which two parties merged in 2003 to create the present-day conservative party?
a) Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative parties
b) Liberal and Progressive Conservative parties
c) Green and Progressive Conservative parties
d) Canadian Alliance and Liberal parties
e) Canadian Alliance and Green parties

Question 14:

Why did the Sponsorship Scandal occur?
a) NDP-friendly advertising firms were paid for work they did not do.
b) Bloc Quebecois-friendly advertising firms were paid for work they did not do.
c) Conservative-friendly advertising firms were paid for work they did not do.
d) Liberal-friendly advertising firms were paid for work they did not do.
e) Green-friendly advertising firms were paid for work they did not do.

Question 15:

Which of the following was not one of the components of the “hidden agenda” that the Liberals accused the Conservatives of having during the 2004 election?
a) Scrapping the Kyoto Accord
b) Privatizing health care
c) Joining US-led military adventures
d) Rolling back abortion rights
e) Centralizing the federation

Question 16:

What does the “one-member, one-vote” model for choosing a party’s leader involve?
a) Only the party’s MPs
b) All rank-and-file members of the party
c) Only those members chosen to be delegates
d) Both A and C
e) Both B and C

Question 17:

Why is Canada a “60/40” country, electorally?
a) The winning party typically gets 60 per cent of the popular vote.
b) The winning party typically gets 40 per cent of the vote and 60 per cent of the seats.
c) The winning party typically gets 60 per cent of its votes from central Canada.
d) Only 60 per cent of eligible voters typically vote in federal elections.
e) The only centre-right party in Canada gets 40 per cent of the vote and the centre-left get 60 per cent.

Question 18:

What type of electoral system is used in Canada?
a) The run-off system
b) The plurality system
c) The single-transferable vote system
d) The proportional representation system
e) The presidential system

Question 19:

Which of the following is not one of the arguments made against the proportional electoral system?
a) It exaggerates the seat count for the strongest major party and for regionally concentrated minor parties.
b) It splinters the party system.
c) It produces unstable government.
d) It encourages ideological polarity.
e) All of the above are arguments made against the proportional electoral system.

Question 20:

Which of the following is not one of the arguments against the single member, plurality electoral system?
a) It gives the impression that some parties have no or little support in certain regions.
b) Minor parties that appeal to interests distributed widely across the country will receive a smaller percentage of seats than votes.
c) It tends to produce unstable government composed of a coalition of parties.
d) It tends to give more seats than votes to minor parties whose support is regionally concentrated.
e) The parliamentary composition of a party will be less representative of the different regions of the country than is that party’s electoral support.

Question 21:

Historically, which party stood to gain the most from a change to a proportional electoral system?
a) Conservative Party
b) Bloc Quebecois
c) Liberal Party
d) New Democratic Party
e) Green Party

Question 22:

What is the major element of the post-2004 model for party and campaign financing?
a) Donations by special interests, including corporations and trade unions, are banned.
b) Individuals may donate up to $1,100 per year to a registered political party or candidate.
c) Parties receive an annual public subsidy of $1.75 for every vote that they receive.
d) All of the above
e) None of the above

Question 23:

In the 2006 federal election, male voters were significantly more likely to vote for which of the following parties?
a) Conservatives
b) Liberals
c) NDP
d) Green
e) Bloc Quebecois

Question 24:

Passage of the Election Expenses Act, 1974 signalled a watershed in Canadian party finance except for which of the following?
a) Setting spending limits for individual candidates and political parties during election campaigns
b) Providing a system of reimbursement for part of their expenses for candidates who receive 15 per cent of the political vote
c) Prohibiting donations by corporations and trade unions
d) Establishing tax credits up to a maximum of $650 for political contributions
e) Requiring candidates and parties to identify contributors who have donated large sums (now set at $200 or more in money or services in kind)

Question 25:

What are paid-access opportunities?
a) Special private meetings between party leaders and the party’s highest-paying donors
b) Private dinners hosted by the Prime Minister at 24 Sussex Drive for the highest-paying party donors
c) Fundraising events where admission is very expensive and where donors receive the opportunity to meet party leaders
d) Private dinners hosted by the leader of the official opposition at Stornoway for the highest-paying party donors
e) Both B and D

Question 26:

Elite recruitment is not a function of political parties.
a) True
b) False

Question 27:

In order to be electorally successful, it is not necessary that a party bring all major groups or regions under its roof.
a) True
b) False

Question 28:

The Liberal-Conservatives were the predecessors of the governing Conservative Party.
a) True
b) False

Question 29:

Wilfrid Laurier caused deep division between the groups that eventually formed the Conservative Party.
a) True
b) False

Question 30:

An open ballot referred to a free and democratic voting process in the 1860s and 1870s.
a) True
b) False

Question 31:

The emphasis on accommodating diverse interests is no longer a characteristic feature of federal and provincial politics in Canada.
a) True
b) False

Question 32:

The Liberals became identified with a strong centralist state during the Trudeau–Mulroney era.
a) True
b) False

Question 33:

According to Robert Alford, a relative lack of national integration is the major reason for the lack of class voting in Canada.
a) True
b) False

Question 34:

Centre-left votes are now split between the Liberals, the NDP, the Bloc, and the Green Party.
a) True
b) False

Question 35:

Evidence shows that there is a huge advantage to being the frontrunner heading into a party leadership convention.
a) True
b) False

Question 36:

The single member, plurality electoral system used in Canadian federal and provincial elections is based on the idea that a party’s percentage of the popular vote should be translated into a corresponding share of seats in the legislature.
a) True
b) False

Question 37:

Since the 1960s, NDP support has generally been stronger among voters who belong to unions than among most other segments of the electorate.
a) True
b) False

Question 38:

Both Liberal and Conservative parties have traditionally relied heavily on trade unions to finance their activities.
a) True
b) False

Question 39:

Considerable money is spent on fundraising, polling, consultants, and pre-campaign advertising before an election is called.
a) True
b) False

Question 40:

The communication activities of political parties via the Internet remain unregulated.
a) True
b) False

Higher Education

Canadian Democracy, A Concise Introduction - Chapter 9