Political Parties

1
Political Parties

• Chapter 10
• Malcolmson Myers

2
Political Party

• A publicly (i.e., visibly) organized group of
  people who are motivated by a set of common
  political ideas and whose goal is to have their
  members win public office so that those ideas can
  be put into practice

3
Parties the Constitution

• Not in the CA 1867 or CA 1982
• No convention demanding parties
• Parties exist because they are useful

4
Functions of Parties

• Recruit candidates (elites)
• Run campaigns
• Aggregate interests
• Formulate policy alternatives
• Educate socialize (elites voters)

5
Party Organization

• Parties as franchises
• Constituency associations
• Find candidates
• Raise money
• Volunteers
• Delegates to party conferences

6
Party Organization

• Leadership Selection
• Caucus (Parliamentary Wing)
• Elitist
• Responsive
• Convention (Extra-parliamentary Wing)
• Democratic
• Concentration of power

7
Party Systems

• Number of parties
• Two- or multi-party
• Size strength
• Seats Votes
• Fragmentation
• Ideological location orientation

8
A 2½ Party System

• Liberals Conservatives dominate
• Smaller regional parties
• Progressives
• Social Credit
• CCF / NDP
• Bloc
• Reform
• Impact of SMP electoral system

9
Liberal Conservative Dominance
10
Parties Ideology

• Motivation
• Ideological (policy-seeking)
• Pragmatic (office-seeking)
• Brokerage (catch-all) parties

11
Parties Ideology

• Conservative
• Right
• Classical Liberalism
• Conservative (PC, Reform) Party
• Progressive
• Left
• Social Democratic, Socialist
• NDP (CCF)

12
Parties Ideology
Decentralization
BQ
Con
Lib
NDP
Centralization
Left (Progressive)
Right (Conservative)