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ESSAYS

Electoral Instability in Canada: Implications for the Canada-U.S. Relationship

Pages 7-21 | Published online: 11 Nov 2009

Notes

  • This is necessarily a stylized account of Liberal Party support. For more precise analyses, see Andre Blais et al., Anatomy of a Liberal Victory: Making Sense of the Vote in the 2000 Canadian Election (Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2002), and Neil Nevitte et al., Unsteady State: The 1997 Canadian Federal Election (Don Mills, ON Oxford University Press, 2000).
  • Prior to 1993, the only conservative party with significant representation in the House of Commons was formally titled the Progressive Conservative Party It was eclipsed in 1993 by the Reform Party, which later became the Canadian Alliance. The Canadian Alliance merged with the Progressive Conservatives in 2004 to form what is now known as the Conservative Party of Canada.
  • This pattern is outlined in more detail in Stephen Harper and Tom Flanagan, “Our Benign Dictatorship: Canada's System of One Party Plus Rule Has Stunted Democracy,” Next City 2, no. 2(1997).
  • R. Kenneth Carty, William Cross, and Lisa Young, Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000), 26.
  • For an overview of the constitutional process, see Peter H. Russell, Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians. Become a Sovereign People? (Toronto: Key Porter, 1993). For a discussion of its partisan political aftermath, see Carty, Cross, and Young, Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics.
  • For a more thorough analysis of this dynamic, see Richard Johnston, “Canadian Elections at the Millennium,” Choices 6, no. 6 (2002).
  • Bob Plamondon, Full Circle: Death and Resurrection in Canadian Conservative Politics (Toronto: Key Porter, 2006), 110.
  • In Tom Flanagan, Waiting for the Wave (Toronto: Stoddart, 1995), 60.
  • Ibid.
  • Stephen Harper to Preston Manning memo, cited in Flanagan, Waiting for the Wave, p. 60.
  • Plamondon, Full Circle: Death and Resurrection in Canadian Conservative Politics, 222.
  • A narration of the events leading up to the merger can be found in Plamondon, Full Circle: Death and Resurrection in Canadian Conservative Politics.
  • A full rehearsal of the facts surrounding the scandal can be found in Canada Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program, Who Is Responsible? vol. 1 (Ottawa: Minister of Public Works and Government Services, 2005).
  • Elisabeth Gidengil et al., “Back to the Future? Making Sense of the 2004 Election Outside Quebec,” Canadian Journal of Political Science 39, no. 1 (2006).
  • Stephen Clarkson, “Disaster and Recovery: Paul Martin as Political Lazarus,” in The Canadian General Election of 2004, ed. Jon H. Pammett and Christopher Dornan (Toronto: Dundurn, 2004).
  • Shortly after Paul Martin became prime minister, the Auditor General released a devastating report on financial wrongdoing surrounding the sponsorship scandal, noting in particular that a significant portion of the funds spent went to Liberal-friendly advertising firms in return for little or no work. In response, Prime Minister Martin appointed Justice John Gomery to investigate possible wrongdoing surrounding the sponsorship program and make recommendations to prevent future mismanagement of government sponsorship or advertising programs.
  • For an account of the campaign dynamics, see Jon H. Pammett and Christopher Dornan, eds., The Canadian Federal Election of 2006 (Toronto: Dundurn, 2006).
  • Blais et al., Anatomy of a Liberal Victory Making Sense of the Vote in the 2000 Canadian Election; Gidengil et al., “Back to the Future? Making Sense of the 2004 Election Outside Quebec.”
  • See Clarkson, “Disaster and Recovery: Paul Martin as Political Lazarus,” and Stephen Clark-son, “How the Big Red Machine Became the Little Red Machine,” in The Canadian Federal Election of 2006, ed. Jon H. Pammett and Christopher Dornan (Toronto: Dundurn, 2006).
  • Tom Keating, “Canada and the New Multilateralism,” in Readings in Canadian Foreign Policy: Classis Debates and New Ideas, ed. Duane Bratt and Christopher Kukucha (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2007), 22; Allan Gotlieb, “Romanticism and Realism in Canada's Foreign Policy,” in Benefactor's Lecture (Toronto: CD Howe Institute, 2004). 19.
  • Gotlieb, “Romanticism and Realism in Canada's Foreign Policy,” 28.
  • Kim Lunman, “Majority Supports Chrétien on Iraq, Poll Finds,” Globe and Mail, 16 June 2003.
  • Robert Sheppard, “The Iraq File: Who Wants to Fight Shoulder to Shoulder with the U.S. Now?” http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/realitycheck/iraq.html.
  • Conservative Party of Canada, “Stephen Harper Releases Plan Rooted in Canadian Values.” http:www.conservative.ca/EN/1091, accessed 13 Nov. 2006.
  • Conservative Party of Canada, Stand Up for Canada Conservative Party of Canada General Election Platform (Ottawa: Conservative Party of Canada, 2006), 44–45.
  • Sheppard, “The Iraq File: Who Wants to Fight Shoulder to Shoulder with the U.S. Now?”
  • Gloria Galloway and Michael Den Tandt, “PM Backs Down on Policy for Fallen,” Globe and Mail, 27 May 2006.
  • Stephen Harper, “Reviving Canadian Leadership in the World,” speech to the Woodrow Wilson Award Dinner, 5 Oct. 2006.
  • Stephen Harper, “Address by the Prime Minister at the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce,” 14 July 2006.
  • Matthew Mendelsohn, “Canadians' Thoughts on Their Health Care System,” in Report Prepared for the Romanow Commission (2002).
  • Thomas J. Scotto and Jason Reifler, “Freedom to Choose or a Domestic Constraint: Public Attitudes and the Shaping of Canadian Foreign Policy,” in Centre for International Governance Innovation's 4th Annual New Scholars Conference (Waterloo, ON 2005).
  • Environics, “CBC Poll,” http://erg.environics.net/media_room/default.asp?aID=615.
  • Strategic Counsel, http://www.thestrategiccounsel.com/our_news/polls/2006–10-16%20GMCTV%200ct%2012–15%20(Oct%2016).pdf.
  • Strategic Counsel, http://www.thestrategiccounsel.com/our_news/polls/2006–08-14%20GMCTV%20Aug%2010–13%20(Aug%2014).pdf.
  • Strategic Counsel, http://www.thestrategiccounsel.com/our_news/polls/2006–03-27%20GMCTV%20Mar25–26%20(Mar27).pdf.
  • Scotto and Reifler, “Freedom to Choose or a Domestic Constraint: Public Attitudes and the Shaping of Canadian Foreign Policy.”
  • Munroe Eagles, “Canadian-American Relations in a Turbulent Era,” PS: Political Science and Politics, October 2006.

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