POLI 1119 Lecture : Political Parties in Canada.docx
Document Summary
Ideologies & modern canadian parties: neither conservative nor liberal are strongly ideological, substantive agreement on major econ issues. Competition is often along technocratic lines, trust/valence issues, or elites have reached (in census on contentious issue: ndp a weak social democratic party in international terms if. Ndp rise holds, may realign politics along a more ideological line. Political parties roles: integrating citizens into political system. Parties serve as link between people and government. Important to helping citizens gain attachment to political system. Role decreases over time, as parties seen by people as another distant and unaccountable institution. Canada"s 2 big parties =/= ideological distant but do present clear policy preferences to voters. Neither party in canada is tied to policy prescriptions of its membership base. Those elected to high office in canada are associated w/ a political party. Parties choose candidates and leaders and determine pool of choices for voters.
