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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Riding style, party ethos : nominations, candidates and local campaigns in Canadian federal elections Sayers, Anthony M. (Anthony Michael)
Abstract
Despite having the appearance of a single event, federal elections in Canada concatenate nearly 300 individual constituency contests. Yet little is known of how constituency campaign teams operate, or how they interact with each other. In order to provide a better understanding of local campaigns, this thesis describes and explains the nature of local riding associations, the candidates they select, and the environment in which they operate. In so doing, it traces the impact of both riding and partisan forces on the character of constituency politics, and on Canadian politics more generally. The thesis focuses on major party campaigns in seven ridings in British Columbia in the 1988 federal election. It begins with a socio-political profile of each riding, including the media resources available to local campaigns. The dynamics of the local association, nomination, and campaign are then reconstructed using information gleaned from interviews with candidates, campaign managers, party strategists, and volunteers. Similarly, personal interviews with journalists who covered each of the local contests give further insights into the nature of constituency politics, and the methods by which local campaigns communicate with voters. Information on ridings and associations is then used to develop a typology of candidates and campaigns. This typology suggests that there are four archetypal candidates: local notables, party insiders, stopgaps, and those with a high profile. Each tends to be selected by a certain type of association, and to run a distinctive campaign. This typology is then applied to a number of the actual campaigns from 1988. The patterns of politics identified by this typology suggest that local associations are central to the nature of Canadian politics and democracy. Each association combines riding and partisan forces together in idiosyncratic ways. Associations are also distinctive in a comparative sense. Unlike local party organizations in other countries, they are neither beholden to their party, nor to the personal politics of a particular candidate.
Item Metadata
Title |
Riding style, party ethos : nominations, candidates and local campaigns in Canadian federal elections
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1995
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Description |
Despite having the appearance of a single event, federal elections in Canada concatenate
nearly 300 individual constituency contests. Yet little is known of how constituency campaign
teams operate, or how they interact with each other. In order to provide a better understanding
of local campaigns, this thesis describes and explains the nature of local riding associations, the
candidates they select, and the environment in which they operate. In so doing, it traces the
impact of both riding and partisan forces on the character of constituency politics, and on
Canadian politics more generally.
The thesis focuses on major party campaigns in seven ridings in British Columbia in the
1988 federal election. It begins with a socio-political profile of each riding, including the media
resources available to local campaigns. The dynamics of the local association, nomination, and
campaign are then reconstructed using information gleaned from interviews with candidates,
campaign managers, party strategists, and volunteers. Similarly, personal interviews with
journalists who covered each of the local contests give further insights into the nature of
constituency politics, and the methods by which local campaigns communicate with voters.
Information on ridings and associations is then used to develop a typology of candidates
and campaigns. This typology suggests that there are four archetypal candidates: local notables,
party insiders, stopgaps, and those with a high profile. Each tends to be selected by a certain
type of association, and to run a distinctive campaign. This typology is then applied to a number
of the actual campaigns from 1988.
The patterns of politics identified by this typology suggest that local associations are
central to the nature of Canadian politics and democracy. Each association combines riding and
partisan forces together in idiosyncratic ways. Associations are also distinctive in a comparative
sense. Unlike local party organizations in other countries, they are neither beholden to their
party, nor to the personal politics of a particular candidate.
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Extent |
8565602 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-04-22
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0088368
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1995-05
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.