Interest Groups

Interest group representation in Canada identifies society 's influence on the governing body and the policies decided upon in the legislative setting. The composition of interest groups has evolved over time and has lead to study of three distinct approaches to the power the representational groups have. The growth and change of interests in the Canadian state are dependent upon the structure between societal and government values. An interest group refers to a group of individuals bound together to excerpt pressure upon the government to achieve a common goal and acquire a common benefit. The Canadian government can not deal with the immense responsibility, which is delegated to it without interacting with every major sector of national institutional structure. The interaction gives interest groups a great deal of power because they provide the organization and the knowledge required by the government to oversee the numerous demands and then present the issues back to the government in an easily understandable process. Single issues or individual influence groups are the basic building blocks of modern pressure groups. Every interest is seen as expressing a combined purpose of individuals that have come together to achieve certain objectives. These groups have limited organizational skills and lack the knowledge of government to succeed in the few specific issues on their objective. Single issues interest groups usually have a fluid membership base, which use the media and extreme action to obtain their goals. The groups usually are fighting for a change in private or public policy they find unfair of unjust. These groups tend to disband when they reach their goals (or concede defeat). Although single interests groups are not completely ineffective, their tendency towards fanaticism makes them not well liked in the beacratic community and in turn do not stay around for to long. The main key to success for these groups lies within their effectiveness to appeal to

Bibliography: Alford, Robert R. and Roger Friedland, Powers of Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985. Banting, Keith, Michael Hawes, Richard Simeon, and Elaine Willis, eds. Policy Choices: Political Agendas in Canada and the United States. Kingston: Queen 's University, 1991. Brickerton, James, and Alain-G. Gagnon, eds. Canadian Politics. 3rd ed., Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1999. Knuttila, Murray. State Theories. 3rd ed., Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 1992. Malvern, Paul. Persuaders. Toronto: Methuen, 1985. Nye, Joseph S. Jr., Kurt Biedemkopf, and Motoo Shiina. Global Cooperation. New York: The Trilateral Commission, 1991. Presthus, Robert, Elite Accommodation in Canadian Politics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1973. Pross, Paul A., Group Politics and Public Policy. 2nd ed., Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1985. Seidle, Leslie F., ed. Equity and Community. Ottawa: Renouf Publishing, 1993. Thompson, Clive S., ed. First World Interest Groups. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1993. Thompson, Fred and WT Stanbury, The Political Economy of Interest Groups in the Legislative Process in Canada, Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, Occasional Paper No. 9, viii. Young, Robert, ed. Stretching the Federalism. Kingston: Queen 's University, 1999. Word Count: 2470