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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Life at the fringes of Canadian federal politics: the experience of minor parties and their candidates during the 1993 general election Drukier, Cindy Carol
Abstract
This thesis marks the first attempt to systematically study Canadian minor parties. Minor parties, as distinct from third parties, are those that acquire less than 5 percent of the national vote (usually much less than one percent) and have never sent an MP to Ottawa. We know little about parties as a group except that their numbers have steadily proliferated over the last 20 years and that this growth shows no signs of abating. The goal of this paper is fill the knowledge gap surrounding minor parties and to assess the health of electoral democracy in Canada. Specifically, nine minor parties are studied through the experiences of their candidates during the 1993 federal election. The findings presented are based on data collected from government sources and on surveys and interviews administered to a sample of minor party candidates who ran in the greater Vancouver area. The dissemination of political beliefs not represented in mainstream politics was the dominant reason candidates gave for participating in elections. Winning is a long term ambition, but not expected in the short run for the majority of parties. Despite their modest aims, minor parties and candidates are unduly fettered in their ability to effectively compete in elections and communicate with the public. Minor party campaigns typically have scant political resources, including money, time and workers; electoral laws — concerning registration thresholds, broadcasting time allotments and campaign reimbursements — designed to promote fairness, disadvantage the system's weakest players; and subtle biases on the part of the press, debate organizers and potential donors close important channels of communication. Of these factors, money emerged as the most important, with media exposure — or the lack of it — a close second in terms of determining a party's competitiveness. The National Party, with superior resources, was often an exception to the above characterization, but ultimately, media neglect sealed its fate as a marginal party. Notwithstanding the great odds facing minor parties, winning is not impossible given the right alignment of factors. The Reform Party did it in 1993, providing other small parties with hope and an example to follow.
Item Metadata
Title |
Life at the fringes of Canadian federal politics: the experience of minor parties and their candidates during the 1993 general election
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1996
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Description |
This thesis marks the first attempt to systematically study Canadian minor parties. Minor
parties, as distinct from third parties, are those that acquire less than 5 percent of the
national vote (usually much less than one percent) and have never sent an MP to Ottawa.
We know little about parties as a group except that their numbers have steadily
proliferated over the last 20 years and that this growth shows no signs of abating. The
goal of this paper is fill the knowledge gap surrounding minor parties and to assess the
health of electoral democracy in Canada.
Specifically, nine minor parties are studied through the experiences of their
candidates during the 1993 federal election. The findings presented are based on data
collected from government sources and on surveys and interviews administered to a
sample of minor party candidates who ran in the greater Vancouver area.
The dissemination of political beliefs not represented in mainstream politics was
the dominant reason candidates gave for participating in elections. Winning is a long term
ambition, but not expected in the short run for the majority of parties. Despite their
modest aims, minor parties and candidates are unduly fettered in their ability to effectively
compete in elections and communicate with the public. Minor party campaigns typically
have scant political resources, including money, time and workers; electoral laws —
concerning registration thresholds, broadcasting time allotments and campaign
reimbursements — designed to promote fairness, disadvantage the system's weakest players; and subtle biases on the part of the press, debate organizers and potential donors
close important channels of communication.
Of these factors, money emerged as the most important, with media exposure — or
the lack of it — a close second in terms of determining a party's competitiveness. The
National Party, with superior resources, was often an exception to the above
characterization, but ultimately, media neglect sealed its fate as a marginal party.
Notwithstanding the great odds facing minor parties, winning is not impossible given the
right alignment of factors. The Reform Party did it in 1993, providing other small parties
with hope and an example to follow.
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Extent |
6957566 bytes
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Geographic Location | |
Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-02-14
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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 |
10.14288/1.0087208
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1996-11
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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.