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Copyright of Canadian Political Science Review is the property of Canadian Political Science Review and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien is the property of Gesellschaft fuer Kanada Studien e.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

How do Canadians engage with the political content provided by governments, political parties and parliamentarians in Canada? Employing data from the 2014 Canadian Onlitie Citizenship Survey, this article explores how Canadians use digital communications to become informed about, discuss and/or participate in politics. The results suggest that less than half of respondents use the Internet to engage in Canadian politics and while governments, politicians and parties have made extensive forays into cyberspace, politics is a minor online activity for Canadians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented concerning the organization Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Canada and its use of human rights language in its advocacy efforts in Canadian politics. It examines communications between the MCC Canada's Ottawa Office, called the Ottawa Office, and the Canadian government, Mennonite negotiation of conscientious objection, and MCC Canada's work with Canadian Indigenous communities.

We investigate election timing by Canadian provincial and federal governments from 1976 to 2008. Using monthly data, our provincial regressions indicate that lower unemployment and the prospect of increasing unemployment spur election calls. Our federal regressions also suggest that lower unemployment triggers elections and the effect is stronger at the federal level than at the provincial level. We present evidence that US monthly unemployment rates are lower before Canadian variable-date federal elections but are not lower before US fixed-date elections. This finding further indicates that Canadian politicians have used our variable-date election system to exploit favourable conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the impact of federalism on Canadian environmental policies and attempts to establish a pattern of intergovernmental cooperation and competition concerning the outcome of environmental policies on climate change as of 2012. The article discusses public opinion concerning environmental costs, regional differences in economics and ecology, and decentralized jurisdictions attempting to enforce environmental regulations. The author argues that there is no Canadian consensus on national policies concerning greenhouse gas emission (GGE) reductions.

Copyright of Lien Social et Politiques is the property of Institut National de Recherche Scientifique (INRS) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper expands on the work of Higgins, whose 1979 review remains the only synthetic overview of the field, by presenting an updated analysis of the study of municipal, local and urban issues in Canadian political science. We conclude that despite several discursive shifts—from the descriptive works of the 1950s and 1960s, through to the blossoming of interdisciplinary research in the 1980s and 1990s—Higgins' principal conclusion, that the various streams of urban politics continue to be studied in relative isolation from each other, still rings true. Despite the recent broadening of the literature, productive scholarly debates within and across research clusters are rare, and where debates do emerge, they are more often driven by current events and normative claims than by theoretical innovations. To remedy these deficiencies, we propose several bases for a new urban research agenda that is more methodologically and theoretically diverse and connected to work in other disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the 1990s, a prevalent theme in the comparative literature on liberal–democratic state responses to increasing international migration holds that the expansion of rights protections for non-citizens has undermined restrictive border control policies. The argument presented in this article suggests that this is too partial an understanding of the ways in which control and rights intersect—the control–rights nexus. Accordingly, it analyzes Canadian policies towards asylum seekers from the 1950s to the 1980s to explore the ways in which the restriction of rights can undermine state control policies by generating rights-based politics, encouraging the circumvention of control policies and creating administrative inefficiencies. Altogether, the analysis provides an important refinement of the study of the control–rights nexus and allows for a more complete understanding of control policies and politics in liberal–democratic states. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fiscal equalization is a key political issue in many federal countries, including Canada. Yet, relatively few scholars have paid systematic attention to the political dimensions of Canada’s federal equalization program. Taking an historical and institutionalist perspective, this article explores the politics of equalization policy in Canada, with a focus on the mid-2000s, a period when equalization policy suddenly became a major source of intergovernmental conflict. The main objective of the article is to explain why and how such political struggles over equalization developed. The explanation focuses on four factors: (i) the importance of executive discretion over the equalization program; (ii) the “inter-state” nature of Canadian federalism; (iii) the concentration of non-renewable natural resources in certain provinces; and (iv) the perceptions that surround the program. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the relationship between Canada and the European Union (EU), primarily focusing on trade disputes among the two powers centered in the North Atlantic. The author analyzes the ways in which Canada's geographic position in relation to the U.S. and Europe has helped determine its European foreign policy. Bilateral trade disputes between Canada and the EU regarding fish, seals, fur trapping, and other staples of the North Atlantic economy are discussed. Disputes over natural resource exploitation are examined.

For much of the 1990s, the academic literature on multiculturalism was heavily normative, dominated by political philosophers who developed idealized theories of a distinctly liberal-democratic form of multicultural citizenship. This "liberal multiculturalism hypothesis"--the notion that multiculturalism policies can be adopted without jeopardizing core liberal-democratic values--has been quite influential, shaping debates not just within the field of philosophy, but more widely in academia and indeed in public life. Many social scientists, however, question whether multiculturalism in the real world has been so benign. This paper considers the available evidence, empirically testing the liberal multiculturalism hypothesis, both in Canada and cross-nationally. What does this evidence tell us about the prospects for liberal-democratic multiculturalism and about the impact of multicultural policies on liberal-democratic values? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the development of electoral studies in Canada, by-elections have received little attention from researchers. We believe that these are important political events. This research note examines the 121 federal by-elections held between general elections from 1963 to 2008. Our analysis indicates that turnout in by-elections is driven by the larger societal determinants of turnout and not the characteristics of each race. We also find that the support of the government party in a by-election is affected by changes in national opinion towards the government, but only in the third-party system. We find that minor parties and independent candidates perform better in by-elections than in general elections. And we find no difference in the re-election rates of by-election winners and those who enter parliament through general elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, before the Speech from the Throne may be tabled, let alone debated, in each chamber of Parliament a private members' public bill was introduced 'pro forma' (meaning for form's sake). This tradition goes back 400 years in Britain and like many ancient traditions some of its significance has been forgotten over time. In 2008, the Canadian Government broke with that tradition and introduced government bills summarizing the claim of privilege it identified as being enjoyed by each chamber. This paper reviews the history of 'pro forma' bills, placing them in their original context so as to show that the claim of privileges and rights, all of which were fought for and obtained before the advent of responsible government and are the cornerstones of the legislative branch of government, are more multilayered than is described in these two new bills. It notes that the very act of substituting these new bills is reflective of the increasing domination of the legislative agenda by the Crown. It concludes by recommending that the new format be modified and that MPs and Senators who are not Ministers or Parliamentary Secretaries be selected as movers for the 'pro forma' bill, and that bills be chosen that better embrace the full breadth of rights and privileges claimed by the Commons, the Senate and members of Parliament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines public statements by female candidates for the leadership of major federal parties in the period 1975-2006, with reference to the conceptual literature on political representation. Was the willingness of women politicians to voice feminist rhetoric more closely related to extra-parliamentary dynamics, notably the changing fortunes of feminist and antifeminist movements, or to parliamentary factors, including the ideological as well as competitive circumstances of their parties? The empirical discussion suggests feminist content was particularly strong in the language of Rosemary Brown for the NDP in 1975, Kim Campbell for the PCs in 1993 and Martha Hall Findlay for the Liberals in 2006. Overall results point toward the utility of a two-pronged perspective that merges a parliamentary view that centre-left through centre-right parties, as well as those in an opposition or weak governing position, were more likely sites of feminist discourse than hard right and firmly competitive parties, with a movement-focused approach that explains the diminished use of representational rhetoric during this period, even in relatively hospitable parties, with reference to the declining legitimacy of organized feminism. Unlike in the US, women candidates in right parties in Canada did not use their campaigns as vehicles for voicing strong antifeminist positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In August 1968, the Soviet Union sent troops into Czechoslovakia to crush the burgeoning spirit of reform known as the "Prague Spring. " The Soviet invasion and the return of oppressive government measures triggered the flight of twenty-seven thousand people, eleven thousand of whom came to Canada. Using newly released archival records, this paper explores how the Canadian government approached the refugee crisis and argues that confident officials, buoyed by a charismatic leader and operating in an era of improved East-West relations, manipulated the conventional definition of a refugee and consciously adopted policies that enabled large numbers of Czechoslovakian refugees to resettle in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the voting behavior of the First Nations aboriginal peoples of Canada. The entry notes that First Nations were expected to participate in Canada's federal and provincial elections during the 1960s, but resisted the exercise of the right granted to them. Analysts note that the declining poll participation of First Nations from the 1960s to the present can be attributed to the government's failure to ensure legislative representation for the aborigines and a sense of historical injustice from being previously denied from voting.

The article discusses the question of whether or not the political affiliation of the ruling party in Canada affects the nature and direction of the country's priorities and polices in terms of its trade relationship with the U.S. An overview of Canadian economic policy concerning the U.S. from 1968-2008 is presented by means of an analysis of major policy statements discerned from speeches and white papers. The authors establish why, in their opinion, party affiliation has little impact on Canadian trade policy with the U.S.

This article discusses the role of masculinity and femininity in the analysis of Canadian foreign policy rhetoric. The tendency to frame the relationship between Canada and the U.S. as that of husband and wife is addressed. The tendency for Canadian pundits to depict the government as a feminine or childish is considered. The response of nationalist politicians to the training of American Soldiers on Canadian soil during the 1950s and early 1960s is described. The foreign policy positions of Canadian political leaders including Lester B. Pearson and John G. Diefenbaker.