Blue Thunder The Truth About Conservatives From Macdonald To Harper

An unparalleled portrait of the Conservative Party and each of its nineteen leaders, Blue Thunder rollicks through 141 years of Canadian Conservative leadership. A sprawling, page-turning exposé, Blue Thunder draws upon a wealth of public and private material that Plamondon has enriched with fresh insights. Make no mistake. Blue Thunder is no hagiography. This is a warts-and-all portrait that examines in compelling and revealing detail the lows as well as the highs. Along the way myths are exposed, blame is assessed, and heroes are chosen. More analytically, Plamondon boldly sifts from the record what today's Conservatives need to learn from the past to be successful in the future. A captivating, entertaining and definitive look at the accomplishments and failures of Canadian Conservative leadership, Blue Thunder is a must read for anyone who follows Canadian politics today and an invaluable reference source for decades.

Canadian Parties in Transition examines the transformation of party politics in Canada and the possible shape the party system might take in the near future. With chapters written by an outstanding team of political scientists, the book presents a multi-faceted image of party dynamics, electoral behaviour, political marketing, and representative democracy. The fourth edition has been thoroughly updated and includes fifteen new chapters and several new contributors. The new material covers topics such as the return to power of the Liberal Party, voting politics in Quebec, women in Canadian political parties, political campaigning, digital party politics, and municipal party politics.

Canada's representative democracy is confronting important challenges. At the top of the list is the growing inability of the national government to perform its most important roles: namely mapping out collective actions that resonate in all regions as well as enforcing these measures. Others include Parliament's failure to carry out important responsibilities, an activist judiciary, incessant calls for greater transparency, the media's rapidly changing role, and a federal government bureaucracy that has lost both its way and its standing. Arguing that Canadians must reconsider the origins of their country in order to understand why change is difficult and why they continue to embrace regional identities, Democracy in Canada explains how Canada's national institutions were shaped by British historical experiences, and why there was little effort to bring Canadian realities into the mix. As a result, the scope and size of government and Canadian federalism have taken on new forms largely outside the Constitution. Parliament and now even Cabinet have been pushed aside so that policy makers can design and manage the modern state. This also accounts for the average citizen's belief that national institutions cater to economic elites, to their own members, and to interest groups at their own expense. A masterwork analysis, Democracy in Canada investigates the forces shaping the workings of Canadian federalism and the country's national political and bureaucratic institutions.

This one-volume history chronicles a 150-year history of dramatic changes in fortune and attitudes in western Canada. From the Riel Rebellions and the Winnipeg General Strike to the founding of the CCF, Social Credit, and Reform parties, Canada's West has always been a hotbed of political, social, and economic change. In the early twentieth century those calls for change emanated from the left as farmers and workers fought for social and economic justice. In the past two decades, the protests and calls for change emanated from the right as the region gained a new role for itself in Canada. This history chronicles the rise and fall of such figures as Grant Devine, Bill Vander Zalm, Glen Clark, Roy Romanow, Stockwell Day, and Lorne Calvert -- and the emergence of Stephen Harper and the federal Conservatives. It describes how the West, the political wellspring of progressive changes over the years, has been transformed into the bastion of the right, culminating in the virtual annihilation of the NDP in Saskatchewan, the cradle of social democracy in Canada. This is the updated fourth edition of John Conway's classic book originally published under the title The West.

In this collection, J.P. Lewis and Joanna Everitt bring together a group of up-and coming-political scientists as well as senior scholars to explore the recent history of the Conservative Party of Canada, covering the pre-merger period (1993–2003) and both the minority and majority governments under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The contributors provide nuanced accounts about the experience of conservatives in Canada which reflect the contemporary evolution of Canadian politics in both policy and practice. They challenge the assumption that Harper’s government was built upon traditional "toryism" and reveal the extent to which the agenda of the CPC was shaped by its roots to the Reform and Canadian Alliance Parties. Organized thematically, the volume delves into such topics as interest advocacy, ethno-cultural minorities, gender, the media, foreign policy, and more. The Blueprint showcases the renewed vigour in political studies in Canada while revealing the contradictory story of the modern Conservative Party.

A first-hand look into the back rooms of the conservative movement in Canada, 14 Days provides insights into how the recent history of the Canadian right has influenced the Conservative government over the past two decades. Bruce Carson, having worked in close proximity to many Conservative leaders, describes a series of important moments in the disintegration, re-integration, and eventual repeated electoral success of the modern Conservative Party, formed from its Progressive Conservative forebears. Carson recounts how decisions are made and communicated, how issues are managed, and policies are developed under Harper's leadership. Crucial moments in the Conservatives' rise to power - from the devastating results of the 1993 election to the growth of the Reform Party and its election as Official Opposition, through the parties' merger, leadership decisions, conventions, and elections as minority and majority governments and most recently, the Conservative Party as majority government holder in Canada - are presented from the point of view of an outspoken witness and active participant. Carson candidly shares information on the government's approaches to Afghan detainees, the Cadman and Schreiber affairs, the 2008 constitutional crisis and worldwide recession, the development of their first budget, and the determination of the tenets of Harper's approach to federalism. A rare, behind-the-scenes account of the Harper Conservatives from opposition to government, 14 Days provides a vivid portrayal of all participants and will be eagerly read by anyone interested in the government's inner circle.

As Canadian Conservatives prepare to choose a new leader, their party — and conservatism itself — stands at a crossroads. A political movement inspired by the 18th-century overthrow of French kings struggles to integrate its basic principles in a world of AI, the gig economy, social media, and declining democracy. This challenge is compounded by age-old regional, economic, and cultural divides for Canadian Conservatives. Brian Mulroney’s Progressive Conservative “grand coalition” of Quebec and the western provinces has long collapsed. Instead, in the minds of many voters, the party has become associated with anti-immigration, anti-vaccination and anti-urban angst. So which path will the Tories take? Will members heed the siren song of populism and transform their party into a northern offshoot of the American right? Or will they choose to build a big tent party that eschews dog whistles and division in favour of unity and growth? A provocative new book by conservative author Tasha Kheiriddin examines how the Conservative party got here, where it is now, and how it can move forward to retake the government. She discusses: • How Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fanned the flames of the populist right – and how this presents a trap for the Tories; • How the recent Liberal-NDP deal can shift the political center of gravity in favour of Conservatives – if they are smart enough to take it; • What Conservative policies could look like on issues including climate change, digital privacy, the gig economy, automation, housing unaffordability, indigenous reconciliation, and more; • Where and how Conservatives need to grow, from geography to generations; • How Conservatives need to think big to get Canadians' attention – and how an integrated vision of energy, environment, Indigenous and economic policy could position Canada as the global energy superpower of tomorrow while helping tackle climate change. Tasha Kheiriddin is a public affairs consultant, political commentator, writer and speaker based in Toronto. She is a principal with Navigator Ltd., a lecturer at the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University, and a national political columnist with Postmedia. Named one of Canada’s “Top 100 Most Powerful Women” for her two decades in media and communications. A proud member of the Conservative Party of Canada, she volunteered for fifteen years for the federal Progressive Conservative Party, serving as National Youth President and working for both federal and provincial cabinet ministers.

A critical examination of the federal government policy agenda in the context of Canada's opposition power structure and the global debt crisis.