CIA 4U
ECONOMICS AND POLITICS
CULMINATING ACTIVITY
“It’s all about the economy, stupid”
James Carville
The statement above has been the mantra for political parties in the elections of the
20th century. Bill Clinton, the underdog, defeated George Bush (Sr) and dominated
the White House for 8 years by following this simple idea. Jean Chretien’s record
success as the first 3 time straight majority Prime Minister in Canada can also be
attributed to the success of the economy. Governments rise and fall with the
fluctuations in the business cycle.
With your knowledge of Canada’s economy, fiscal and monetary policy, you will create
a political party and a party platform. Your party platform will be based on your
economic policy including a proposed budget. Your platform will include fiscal and
monetary plans to ensure the economic goals of the government are met. In a mock
election, you will present your platform through a speech, commercial and a onepage flyer outlining your economic policy. With the help of a grade 10 Civics class,
an election will take place to determine the most desirable economic plan. Your
platform will be peer and teacher evaluated.
Once the election is complete, individually you will be required to write a brief report
evaluating the winning party’s budget. The report will include:
a)
The strengths and weaknesses of instituting that budget.
b)
The consequences of the budget.
c)
How well the party’s policies support the goal of economic
stability?