Political significance

Ask questions about political significance when you want to understand which policies, issues, developments, or people are important today.

You can use the concept to

• explain how people, ideas, and events contribute to political change in society;
• analyze the degree to which political decisions represent turning points;
• assess the impact of a political decision or action made by a governing organization on a variety of interested parties; and
• evaluate how the importance of political actions/decisions may shift for various people and over time.

Political significance: Check your understanding

Read the following issues and click on the one that is the most "politically significant" from your point of view.

• Traffic gridlock in Toronto
• Federal government passes an assisted dying bill
• Falling oil prices deepens economic downturn in Western Canada
• The falling birth rate in Canada
• The poor record of human rights regarding Indigenous peoples in Canada

Objectives and results

When you focus on objectives and results, you're looking at the factors that lead to events, policies, decisions, and plans of civic importance.

You can also look at the effects of civic policies or decisions and recognize the varied effects they have on different groups of people.

You can also compare the initial purpose of a decision with its actual effect and see which results were intended and which were not.

Using the concept of objectives and results during the inquiry process, you can

• identify the intended motive(s) for political responses to issues;
• explain how political events or developments can be caused by more than one factor;
• evaluate how well proposed solutions address the identified issue(s); and
• assess the intended or unintended effects of a decision.

Objectives and results: Check your understanding

Imagine that a decision has been made to improve water quality for everyone in Canada. These strategies are being considered, in order to implement this plan. Which strategy would you choose as your first step?

• Start cleaning the water
• Find out where the water quality is unacceptable
• Don't allow waste to be disposed of in rivers
• Distribute bottled water

Stability and change

You can use the concept of stability and change to examine how and why political institutions and government policies change over time or why they remain the same.

The concept of stability and change could be used during the inquiry process to

• explain links between past and current political policies, decisions, and responses;
• determine to what extent government policies create or prevent political change;
• analyze reasons for political continuity or variation over time;
• assess how political institutions, groups, or individuals resist or support change; and
• look at how the stability of different communities is affected by political decisions.

Stability and change: Check your understanding

How does each of the following decisions include consideration of the concept of stability and change? Think about your answer. When you are ready, click the feedback button to see additional information on your answer.

• Taking action on a UN report on the living conditions of Indigenous peoples
• Revising some lines in Canada's national anthem
• Implementing a new Health and Sex Education curriculum in schools
• Changing how marriage is defined in Canada

Political perspective

You can use political perspective to analyze the beliefs and values of various groups, including different governments, in local, national, and/or global communities. Using this perspective enables you to see how people’s beliefs, values, and ways of thinking about others can affect their positions on civic issues.

Vary your point of view. As you collect information, use different “lenses” to help you build a more complete interpretation of what the information means. You can look at one issue or person from a number of perspectives in order to develop a better understanding of that issue/person.

During the inquiry process, use the concept of political perspective to

• identify the influence of beliefs/values on people’s political viewpoints and actions;
• analyze the factors that influence how and why people push for political change;
• compare and contrast how different groups respond to the same political issue; and
• evaluate political courses of action from the viewpoint of key stakeholders.