This article explores the implications of changes in Canadian Supreme Court jurisprudence on Aboriginal rights since the 1990s. While recognizing the Court's valuable contributions in the period from Calder to Sparrow, the author argues that the 1996 Van der Peet decision deals a serious blow to the legal status of Aboriginal rights, particularly the right to self-government. The standard of legal recognition established in Van der Peet constitutes a decided step back from the Court's prior jurisprudence, and is insufficient as a means of securing its stated ends: the survival and well-being of Aboriginal communities and cultures. The author concludes by arguing that the Court can repair the recent damage it has done to Aboriginal rights by revisiting the concept of the quasinational status granted to Aboriginal peoples within the context of the sui generis Crown-Aboriginal relationship.

Recent works on economic voting have shown that the economy's impact on electoral behaviour could sometimes be mediated by differences in political conditions. This article specifies and tests the mediating role of one such factor, namely regionalism, on economic voting in Canada. The potential effect of two structural factors is tested: the regional configuration of the federal party system (clarity of available alternatives), and the regional structure of the economy. The data used come from the last four Canadian Election Studies (1988 to 2000). The results show that economic voting slightly differs among regions according to the presence or not of strong regional political parties, Quebec being the region where the relationship between the economy and the vote is the weakest. Even more significant differences in economic voting behaviour can be observed between ''have'' and ''have not'' regions, the shape of economic voting in the Atlantic provinces being distinct from the one in Ontario and the West.

Abstract. This essay identifies a problem with the phronesis revival. Some revivalists argue that phronesis can serve as a response to the homogenizing influence of technology, maintaining the particulars of individuals and communities. However, by their own argument, technology denies the conditions or “educational backdrop” that the development and practice of phronesis requires.

Résumé. Cet essai identifie le problème de la renaissance du phronesis. Ces révisionnistes considèrent que le phronesis peut serviez de réponse à l'influence homogénéifiante de la technologie. Ils maintiennent la spécificité des individus et des communautés. Cependant, selon leur propre argumentation, la technologie nie les conditions ou la base éducationnelle nécessaires au développement et à la pratique du phronesis.

Abstract. The Canadian party system is an example “polarized pluralism,” whose key feature is domination by a party of the centre. Centrist domination induces centrifugal tendencies elsewhere in the system. Polarized pluralism accounts for several of the system's peculiar features: three-party competition in individual ridings, contrary to the predictions of Duverger's Law; the existence and episodic dynamics of sectional parties; boom and bust cycles in Conservative party electoral history; and the large gaps between federal and provincial outcomes within many provinces. But domination by a centrist party itself demands explanation.

Résumé. Le système canadien des partis politiques exemplifie le «pluralisme polarisé», dont l'élément clé est la force dominante d'un parti du centre. Une telle domination induit des tendances centrifuges ailleurs dans le système. Pour sa part, le pluralisme polarisé explique plusieurs éléments du système canadien : la présence de trois partis compétitifs au niveau de la circonscription, malgré les prédictions du Duverger; l'existence même et la dynamique des partis sectionalistes; l'alternance entre force et faiblesse dans l'histoire du Parti conservateur; et les grands écarts qui se présentent dans plusieurs provinces entre les élections fédérales et les élections provinciales. Dans ce contexte, la force d'un parti centriste se doit d'être expliquée.

Abstract. This study analyses legislative voting in the first ten Canadian Parliaments (1867–1908). The results demonstrate that party unity in the House of Commons dramatically increased over time. From the comparative literature on legislative organization, we identify three factors to explain this trend: partisan sorting, electoral incentives and negative agenda control. Our empirical analysis shows that intraparty conflict is primarily explained by the opposition between Anglo-Celtic/Protestants and French/Catholic members of Parliament. Once lawmakers sort into parties according to their religious affiliations, we observe a sharp increase in voting unity within the Liberal and Conservative caucuses. Ultimately, our results highlight the importance of territorial and socio-cultural conflicts, as well as agenda control, in explaining the emergence of parties as cohesive voting groups in the House of Commons.

Résumé. Cette étude analyse le vote législatif dans les dix premiers parlements canadiens (1867–1908). Les résultats démontrent que l'unité partisane à la Chambre des communes a augmenté dramatiquement durant cette période. En nous basant sur les principales théories liées à l'organisation des législatures, nous identifions trois facteurs pour expliquer cette tendance : la classification partisane; les pressions électorales; et le contrôle de l'agenda législatif. Nos analyses empiriques confirment que les conflits intra-partisans au Parlement s'expliquent principalement par l'opposition entre les députés Anglos-Celtiques/Protestants et Francos/Catholiques. À partir du moment où les députés commencent à rejoindre les principaux partis selon leur groupe religieux, nous observons un accroissement important de l'unité législative au sein des caucus libéral et conservateur. Les résultats de cette recherche soulignent l'importance des conflits territoriaux et socioculturels, mais aussi de l'agenda législatif, pour expliquer l'émergence des partis politiques comme groupes cohésifs à la Chambre des communes.

In light of the Canadian Journal of Political Science (CJPS) self-reflexive “50th Anniversary” issue on the state of Canadian political science (CPS), this article maps the discipline's engagement with intersectional anti-oppression scholarship. Analyzing abstracts in CJPS and the Canadian Political Science Review, we argue while these journals—and mainstream CPS more generally—tackle questions of diversity, there remains a gap between conversations recognized in these particular forums and the incorporation of what we term an intersectional anti-oppression lens. In its deconstruction of systems of power and privilege, we explore analytic and pedagogical possibilities this lens presents for mainstream CPS.

Several previous studies have noted that women constitute a relatively small proportion of provincial legislators in Canada. Numerous explanations for this phenomenon exist, most of which are identified clearly by Brodie, Bashevkin, Burt and others. In this research note, the authors examine the relationship between the proportion of female legislators and the urban/rural nature of the electoral district. They find that there is a distinct difference in the proportion of female legislators who represent urban districts compared to rural districts. This urban-rural disparity exists regardless of political party affiliation. Moreover, the gap appears to be widening over time.

Concepts are like wines; some do not travel well. Thus, a frequent problem concerns whether phenomena with the same label in two societies are really the same. Party identification is a concept which is particularly interesting in this regard. The effect of party identification on voting decisions has been examined in more than a dozen countries, and the data have evoked controversy about the concept's utility, especially in Canada. Although this paper will focus on the term's usefulness in Canada compared to the United States, the arguments are sufficiently general to have implications for analysis elsewhere.

Abstract. This article develops an explanation for the different approaches to existing women's policy agencies adopted by governments of the right elected to office in Aotearoa/New Zealand (in 1990) and in the province of British Columbia (in 2001). In Aotearoa/New Zealand, the Ministry of Women's Affairs remained structurally intact, while in British Columbia the Ministry of Women's Equality was eliminated and replaced with a women's policy agency that constitutes a small subunit within a much larger ministry. My analysis of these developments focuses on the impact of two institutional features of the women's ministries: (1) the nature of the activities in which they were involved and the different allocations of their budgetary resources that these activities entailed; and (2) the relationship between each ministry and community-based women's groups. I also explore the interaction between these institutional variables and the particular way in which a discourse of “special interests” has been expressed within the party of the right in each case.

Résumé. Cet article développe une explication des différences d'attitude envers les agences chargées des politiques concernant les femmes entre les gouvernements de droite qui ont été élus à Aotearoa/Nouvelle-Zélande (en 1990), et en Colombie-Britannique (en 2001). À Aotearoa/Nouvelle-Zélande, la structure du ministère des Affaires des femmes est restée intacte, tandis qu'en Colombie-Britannique le ministère de l'Égalité des femmes a été éliminé et remplacé par une agence chargée des politiques concernant les femmes, qui n'est qu'une petite sous-unité d'un ministère beaucoup plus étendu. Mon analyse de ces développements porte sur l'impact de deux aspects institutionnels des ministères de la condition féminine: (1) le caractère de leurs activités et les différences correspondantes d'allocation de leurs ressources budgétaires; (2) le rapport entre chaque ministère et les groupes féministes des collectivités locales. En plus, j'explore l'interaction entre ces variables institutionnelles et la formation de l'argument d'“ intérêts particuliers ” avancé par le parti de droite dans chaque cas.

The idea that Canada is experiencing a "post-constitutional" era is misleading because it is based only on lack of changes to the formal codified constitution. Through an examination of international economic agreements, considered as untraditional mechanisms having a constitutional effect, a case is made that Canada's constitution has undergone significant, but little noticed, change over the last decade. Using Stephen Krasner's typology of sovereignty, it is shown that several aspects of Canada's sovereignty have been diminished. The effect is that the balance between liberalism and democracy in Canada's liberal democratic polity has been altered, to the detriment of the democratic component.

The research model that has dominated the discipline of political science in Canada is based on a top-down approach that defines and finds solutions to problems as researchers see them, and diminishes the real world concerns of social and political actors. Advocating a more collaborative political science, we argue for a partnership approach that engages those actors in the research process, including problem definition, research design, analysis and knowledge dissemination. This inclusion sharpens the focus of the research and produces more contextually valid and socially valuable knowledge. We draw upon our research experience working with Indigenous communities in Canada to illustrate the value of this approach, and carry out a review of partnership-based research published in The Canadian Journal of Political Science. We find little evidence of partnership-based research in our flagship journal and discuss the implications for the future of our field.

Abstract. This paper presents the first multivariate analysis of the combined effects of region and language on voluntary association membership in Canada. National survey data from 2000 indicate that Quebecers have the lowest average number of memberships, with Western Canadians highest and Atlantic and Ontario residents in between. Preliminary results also confirm that francophones report fewer memberships than anglophones. Findings from Poisson regression models, however, indicate a significant interaction between region and language: francophones have lower membership levels only in Quebec, and in Western Canada have higher levels than anglophones or allophones. These results hold even with controls for a number of possible explanatory factors suggested in the literature, including religious and socioeconomic differences across the regions and language groups. The implications for understanding patterns of voluntary association activity in Canada are discussed.

Résumé. Cet article présente la première analyse multivariable des effets combinés de la région et de la langue sur l'adhésion d'aux associations volontaires au Canada. Les données nationales de 2000 indiquent que les Québécois ont le plus bas nombre moyen d'adhésions, avec les Canadiens de l'Ouest plus hauts et des résidants de la région atlantique et de l'Ontario entre les deux. Les résultats préliminaires confirment que les francophones ont moins d'adhésions que les anglophones. Les résultats indiquent une interaction significative entre la région et la langue: les francophones ont moins d'adhésion seulement au Québec; dans le Canada de l'Ouest les francophones ont plus d'adhésion que les anglophones et les allophones. Ces résultats se tiennent même avec contrôle d'un certain nombre de facteurs explicatifs possibles suggérés dans la littérature, y compris des différences religieuses et socio-économiques à travers les régions et les groupes linguistic. Nous discutons les implications quant aux modèles d'association volontaire au Canada.

Experience, not design, first confronted me with contrasts in the roles of clergymen, teachers, and psychiatrists. On second thoughts these contrasts seemed theoretically important. Their importance will here be assessed on the basis of a tradition of developing thought that as such must, however, be taken for granted. Still, the concrete observations from which this essay takes its departure, as well as the conditions under which they were made and initially interpreted, need prior attention. Subsequently various theoretical proposals will then have their proper balance in material that at best can illustrate them. Rigorous assessment must, as usual, come later still.

For four years I was on the staff of “a mental health project,” called the Human Relations Service, as a sociologist. It was the intention of this project to extend the traditional patterns of psychiatric practice and to gather relevant knowledge about matters of emotional balance to be found in a town of 20 thousand fairly well-to-do people in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The staff of the project included psychiatrists, a psychiatric social worker, clinical psychologists, and various social scientists. Administratively the H.R.S. was linked with the community through an executive committee the chairman of which was the local Unitarian minister. The project, in other words, was committed to research as well as service, including short-term psychotherapy.

This article examines the popularity of Canadian governments between 1974 and 1998 as revealed by the monthly Gallup poll. Approval of each majority government in the 1974–1993 period underwent a cycle of honeymoon, decay and recovery. Underneath the cycle was a long-term downward trend. A simple politicoeconomic model accounts for a large fraction of long-term decay and helps explain the anti-government landslides of 1984 and 1993. But the model leaves inter-election popularity cycles largely unexplained. After 1993, the economy ceased to account for popularity and a wholly new, but apparently stable, electoral cycle emerged. The article concludes with speculation on causes of and contingency in electoral cycles.

We evaluate the Canadian parliamentary hearings on The Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act to determine whether respectful and fair deliberation occurred. Our focus is on the content, tone, and nature of each question posed by committee members in hearings in both chambers. We find that, on the whole, the vast majority of questions met this baseline but that committee members were biased toward witnesses in agreement with their position and against witnesses in opposition to it. In addition to our substantive findings, we contribute methodological insights, including a coding scheme, for this kind of qualitative text analysis.

This study presents the results of a survey of Canada's francophone political scientists on the language of knowledge dissemination in political science. Although almost all francophone political scientists agreed with the statement that English has become the lingua franca of political science, French continues to be a significant part of the dissemination of knowledge. However, there are important variations in language usage depending on the language in which the dissertation was written, the disciplinary sub-field within the discipline, and academic rank. Language choices are largely motivated by the desire to reach the widest possible audience while garnering recognition from peers.

In recent years Keynesian theory has been extended to the analysis of economic growth by the introduction of a relation between investment and productive capacity to supplement the Keynesian relation between investment and effective demand. Combination of the two relations permits the specification of an equilibrium rate of growth, defined as that rate of growth which maintains full employment of capacity. So far, however, except for some rather brief compients by Mr. Harrod, the development of this model has been largely confined to a closed economy. It is the purpose of this article to extend the model to a two-country international economy, and to deduce certain conclusions about equilibrium growth in such an economy. The analysis proceeds from consideration of an open economy, the rate of expansion of demand for whose exports is given, to consideration of a two-country closed system; and from the assumption that balance-of-payments equilibrium is preserved by international lending and borrowing (Part I) to the assumption that it is preserved by exchange rate adjustment (Part II). No attempt is made to deal with the stability of growth equilibrium and the results of departures from it; because of this, and because of the extremely simple assumptions on which the analysis is conducted, the conclusions derived are of limited practical application. Nevertheless, it is hoped that they may have some usefulness as a logical frame of reference for discussion of international growth problems.

Rebuilding of the welfare state in post-industrialized societies is no longer organized around the male worker but around the parent-producer figure. This shift in the focus of social policies results in a greater mix between employment policies and policies towards families and children. In Quebec, this change appears as a fundamental one; the core of social public action is redefined by federal and provincial governments. By comparison, in France the fight against unemployment is still dominant.