The Canadian Political Career Structure: From Stability to Free Agency

Abstract

The Canadian political career structure has undergone recent and dramatic change. The merger of two right of centre political parties and the blurring of ideological lines between parties has noticeably increased the number of elected officials who switch political parties between elections. At the same time, the uneven fortunes of Canada's political parties across the country and within provinces has resulted in a patch work of career structures. There is no single or dominant career pattern in Canada. Instead there is as much movement from Ottawa to the provinces as there is from the sub-national level to the federal assembly. Given Canada's fractured party system, this arrangement seems likely to remain for some time.

Keywords:

• Legislatures
• political careers
• provincial assemblies
• Canadian parliament
• career opportunity structure

Notes

For a more detailed account of the relationship between the federal and provincial wings of parties, see Dyck (1996).

It is interesting to note that the Liberals formed the government despite receiving 1139 fewer votes than the Opposition Progressive Conservatives. In a very close election, the Conservatives received 47.1% of the popular vote province-wide, while the Liberals received 46.8% of the popular vote. The single-member plurality system allows for such anomalies. For more information, see http://www.gnb.ca/elections/06prov/06provpopularvote-e.asp.

Unfortunately, the restrictions on candidates are piecemeal across the country. The majority of provinces and municipalities do not prevent municipal officials from seeking higher office. For more information on George Smitherman, see http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2009/11/09/smitherman-toronto.html

We note that this fewer number occurred during the 1993–2000 years, where Ontario was not held by the Liberals provincially, but the Liberals never held less than 99 of the 100+ seats federally.

The author specifically uses approximately, as the data on how many former members have sought provincial office are not entirely reliable.

The New Democratic Party formed its first Atlantic Canadian Government in Nova Scotia in 2009.

Perhaps the most unique example of strained relations is the Johnson family of Quebec. Here a father and two sons each served as Premier of Quebec, but of three different political parties! Father Daniel as leader of the Union Nationale, son Pierre Marc as leader of the separatist PQ and other son, Daniel Jr, as a Liberal.

An additional member, Deborah Grey, was elected in a 1989 by-election. But, in 1993, 50 of the 52-member Reform caucus, including leader Preston Manning, had no parliamentary experience.

I wish to thank the clerk's offices and legislative libraries of the various assemblies in Canada who provided data on party switching in their jurisdictions. One interesting note on this is just how little information we have on party switchers. Legislatures do not necessarily keep records on this. Some legislatures have more detailed info. than others. That is not a criticism of the assemblies—rather I think it is a reflection that this was historically seen as an anomaly and not a regular part of legislative life. It represented an occasional defection based on personality—such as perhaps John Crosbie in Newfoundland and Labrador or a massive movement due to the collapse of one party and the creation of a new one, such as the mid to late 1940s in British Columbia.

Figures based on data available on Parliament of Canada website.