Politics Canada

Digital Politics in Canada addresses a significant gap in the scholarly literature on both media in Canada and Canadian political science. Using a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, historical, and focused analysis of Canadian digital politics, this book covers the full scope of actors in the Canadian political system, including traditional political institutions of the government, elected officials, political parties, and the mass media. At a time when issues of inclusion are central to political debate, this book features timely chapters on Indigenous people, women, and young people, and takes an in-depth look at key issues of online surveillance and internet voting. Ideal for a wide-ranging course on the impact of digital technology on the Canadian political system, this book encourages students to critically engage in discussions about the future of Canadian politics and democracy.

The sixth edition of Canadian Politics offers a comprehensive introduction to Canadian government and politics by a highly respected group of political scientists. For this edition, the editors have organized the book into six parts. Part I examines Canadian citizenship and political identities, while Parts II and III deal with Canadian political institutions, including Aboriginal governments, and contain new chapters on the public service and Quebec. Parts IV and V shift the focus to the political process, discussing issues pertaining to culture and values, parties and elections, media, groups, movements, gender, and diversity. The chapters on Parliament, bureaucracy, political culture, political communications, social movements, and media are new to this edition. Finally, three chapters in the last section of the book analyze components of Canadian politics that have been gaining prominence during the last decade: the effects of globalization, the shifting ground of Canadian-American relations, and the place of Canada in the changing world order. Of the 21 chapters in this edition, 9 are new and the remainder have been thoroughly revised and updated.

What does it really take to govern effectively? Michael Wernick, a career public servant with experience working at the highest levels of Canadian government, shares tips, insider knowledge, and essential advice in this first-ever practical governance handbook. From choosing a Cabinet and getting the most out of it, to delivering on the prime minister’s mandate letter, readers will get a close-up look at how day-to-day political work actually happens. Wernick’s three decades "in the room" with prime ministers, cabinet ministers, and other members of government make this a must-read not only for politicians, but for anyone who aspires to understand them.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to re-establish the labour movement’s political capacity to exert collective power in ways that foster greater opportunity and equality for working-class people has taken on a greater sense of urgency. Understanding the strategic political possibilities and challenges facing the Canadian labour movement at this important moment in history is the central concern of this second edition of Rethinking the Politics of Labour in Canada. With new and revised essays by established and emerging scholars from a wide range of disciplines, this edited collection assesses the past, present and uncertain future of Canadian labour politics in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bringing together the traditional electoral-based aspects of labour politics with analyses of newer and rediscovered forms of working-class organization and social movement-influenced strategies, which have become increasingly important in the Canadian labour movement, this book seeks to take stock of these new forms of labour politics, understand their emergence and assess their potential impact on the future of labour in Canada.

What trends are shaping contemporary political communication and behaviour in Canada, and where are they heading? What’s Trending in Canadian Politics? examines political communication and democratic governance in a digital age. Exploring the effects of conventional and emerging political communication practices in Canada, contributors investigate the uses of digital media for political communication, grassroots-driven protest, public behaviour prediction, and relationships between members of civil society and the political establishment. Original and timely, this interdisciplinary volume lays robust theoretical and methodological foundations for the study of transformative trends in Canadian political communication.

Religion is usually thought of as inconsequential to contemporary Canadian politics. This book takes a hard look at just how much influence faith continues to have in federal, provincial, and territorial arenas. Drawing on case studies from across the country, it explores three important axes of religiously based contention – Protestant vs. Catholic, conservative vs. reformer, and, more recently, opponents vs. defenders of accommodating minority religious practices. Although the extent of partisan engagement with each of these sources of conflict has varied across time and region, the authors show that religion still matters in shaping political oppositions. These themes are illuminated by comparisons to the role faith plays in the politics of other Western industrialized societies.

Political parties worldwide are using marketing tools such as targeting and segmentation to win elections. Are these strategies making politicians and governments more responsive to voters’ needs, or do they pose a threat to democracy? Political Marketing in Canada, the first book to ask this question of Canada, considers the consequences of political marketing in the realms of public policy, leadership, and the government-citizen relationship. Through dynamic case studies that range from the resurrection of the Conservative Party, to media accounts of political marketing, to Tim Hortons as a political brand, the authors trace how political marketing is transforming the old system of brokerage politics into a new, distinctly Canadian model. Citizens are now viewed as consumers, and platforms and promises have been repackaged as products. Whether this trend is positive or negative, the authors argue, depends on how politicians and governments carry out political marketing – and its promises – in practice.