Recent media accounts suggest certain faith-based interest groups are increasingly pressuring provincial governments across Canada to ensure their views on education policy are acted upon. This paper offers a qualitative assessment of the policy influence possessed by faith-based groups active on the education file in Alberta and the factors responsible for this level of influence. Overall, such influence is not directly attributable to the group's size or resources nor can it be explained by the assumption that Alberta is overrun with religious citizens demanding socially conservative policies. Rather, the explanation is found in a more nuanced appreciation of the self-interested electoral calculations made by the long-governing Progressive Conservative party, on the one hand, as well as well as the party's long-running commitment to “school choice” on the other. This sentiment is intimately related to both the province's populist political culture as well as a broader ideological convergence around the principle of “free choice” in general, and the benefits of marketization in particular.

The 2019 Canadian Election Study (CES) consists of two separate surveys with campaign-period rolling cross-sections and post-election follow-ups. The parallel studies were conducted online and through a random-digit-dial (RDD) telephone survey. Both continue the long tradition of gathering information about the attitudes, opinions, preferences and behaviours of the Canadian public. The online survey, in particular, introduces some important innovations that open up the potential for exciting new research on subgroups in the electorate.

In this paper certain statistical and theoretical problems connected with changes in the level of real wages will be examined. In the first place, information is presented which deals with recent trends in real wages in the United States and in Great Britain. Next, there follows a more or less sketchy treatment of the conventional theory of distribution—this, to provide the analytical tools for the interpretation of these movements. Finally, the significance of these various determinants of the level of real wages is discussed, in the light of statistical and descriptive material to be presented in this paper.

It must be noted at the outset that no very careful treatment is accorded the British material. For the purposes of this survey, the British experience—which was perhaps “normal” in some vague sense—is used as a basis for comparison and contrast with the distinctly “abnormal” American experience. The statistical data presented deal only with the six-year period beginning with 1932 and ending in January, 1938. Prior to the earlier date (1932) adequate information about wages and hours of work in the United States was not available. In any case, even six years, if studied by months, provide quite a wealth of statistical data—enough at least for a preliminary survey such as this.

The subject of the investigation has been the changes in real hourly earnings. This was decided upon for reasons of convenience and not because it was supposed that such an index offered the most significant measure of change in the workers' income. Very probably, most of us would feel that changes in the purchasing power of weekly or annual earnings, or even of working-life earnings, would more satisfactorily measure such alterations. But it is difficult to establish such indices, and the concepts they measure are not so amenable to theoretical treatment.

This article argues that the traditional views of constitutional conventions have failed to illuminate the variety among this important group of constitutional rules. A fresh examination of conventional rules explains how they may vary in precision, acceptance and importance to basic constitutional principles and processes. A hierarchical ordering of five types of constitutional rules is proposed as a replacement for the simple dichotomy between usage and convention that is currently accepted. The implications of such an ordering, which reach beyond mere analytic classification, are then discussed.

This article explores the strategic functions of independence referendums. These referendums are normally framed as popular decisions on statehood over a certain territory. However, I argue that the popular will does not always have the decisory function that plebiscitarian theories suggest. In fact, actual decision referendums are rare; often independence referendums are instead used strategically as a leverage and signalling tactic. The article is structured as follows. First, I propose two key criteria to classify independence referendums regarding actors and timing. Through the application of these criteria, I build a typology proposing four main uses of referendums: leverage, signalling, decision and ratification. Second, I focus on the specific case of leverage referendums. I argue that analyzing the outcomes of leverage referendums can provide some clues about why secessionists still call for these referendums even though they almost never result in internationally recognized statehood. Finally, I conclude by discussing the implications of my findings.

Abstract. This article seeks to document and explain the form and pace of Canada's transformation to a security state. The manifestations of this transformation are seen in the major constitutional, bureaucratic, defensive, and border infrastructural changes that have taken place since 9/11 in an effort to give the Canadian state increased powers to protect its citizens from terrorism. The approach taken in explanation of these changes combines on an ontological level an appreciation for both material and ideational causal forces. This power-plus-ideas approach recognizes the material hierarchy in power capabilities between Canada and the United States as well as the ideational influence of the new transnational security paradigm as the significant causal forces behind the transformation of the Canadian state. It is argued that the material hierarchy in the relationship between Canada and the United States is the ultimate or underlying cause of the form of these changes, but that the ideational pull of the new transnational security paradigm must be factored into to the account of the rapid pace of such change.

Résumé. Cet article cherche à documenter et expliquer le rythme et la forme des changements par lesquels s'est opérée la transformation du Canada en État sécuritaire. Les manifestations principales de cette transformation se sont concrétisées depuis le 11 septembre 2001 en réponse au terrorisme, afin de donner à l'État canadien les moyens de protéger ses citoyens. Les changements d'infrastructure observés touchent le domaine constitutionnel, la bureaucratie, la défense et les frontières. L'approche ontologique privilégiée dans le cadre de cet article reconnaît les forces matérielles et idéationnelles dans son explication causale. Une approche réconciliant la puissance et les idées prend en compte la hiérarchie des capacités matérielles qui caractérise la relation du Canada avec les États-Unis, ainsi que le pouvoir émergeant du paradigme sur la sécurité transnationale au niveau des idées. Ces deux aspects se retrouvent au centre du questionnement sur la transformation de l'État canadien. L'auteur avance que la hiérarchie matérielle entre le Canada et les États-Unis représente la cause ultime ou sous-jacente de la forme du changement, mais que la vigueur idéationnelle du nouveau paradigme de la sécurité transnationale demeure un facteur important dans l'évaluation du rythme de la transformation.

Although the interrelationship between socio-economic characteristics and electoral behaviour in Canadian elections is widely recognized, only recently have attempts been made to evaluate these interactions in a precise manner. The approaches used so far vary in methodology–using both interviews and voting results–and in the level of analysis–ranging from poll to constituency to province to nation. The results depend to some extent on the research approach. Particularly strong variations exist in the effects of social variables in different provinces and different constituencies.

This study presents another research alternative, using multiple regression techniques to combine census small-area information with voting results at the poll level. Although the strengths and weaknesses of this approach are discussed in detail by Meisel and Paquet, few Canadian studies have yet exploited its potential return. Problems of sampling and of variations in candidates and issues among constituencies are replaced by the difficulties of ecological correlation, but the use of regression procedures allows the evaluation of the predictive power of the explanatory variables.

This study develops a dependency interpretation of the interplay between class and region in influencing Canadian voting. The weakness of any national class cleavage in voting is linked to the socially disintegrative effects of regional dependency. Class cleavages are not consistently manifested in Canadian voting because consistent class interests are lacking. Log-linear analyses confirm that class does affect voting but this effect differs in both form and intensity depending on a region's location in the centre-periphery system. The impact of union membership and language on the interplay between class and region is also examined.

Résumé. En déclenchant une élection provinciale anticipée à l'automne 2008 en pleine crise financière, le premier ministre du Québec, Jean Charest, fit le pari que la population réélirait son gouvernement en raison de sa compétence à gérer la «tempête économique» qui s'annonçait. Cet article cherche à déterminer le poids de la variable économique dans les choix électoraux lors de ce scrutin en exploitant les données d'une enquête d'opinion menée en décembre 2008. Ces données permettent notamment de vérifier à quel point le «vote économique» lors de cette élection en fut un de nature traditionnelle, c'est-à-dire s'appuyant sur les évaluations rétrospectives de l'économie de la part des votants, ou plutôt un de nature prospective, reposant sur les perceptions de la compétence des partis à gérer la crise économique annoncée. Nous analysons également l'effet particulier exercé sur le vote par l'enjeu des pertes de la Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec.

Abstract. By calling an early election in the fall of 2008 in the midst of a financial crisis, Quebec Premier Jean Charest hoped that the population would re-elect his government on the basis of its competence at dealing with the upcoming “economic storm.” This article attempts to determine the actual influence that the economy had on Quebeckers' vote choice in that election, with the use of survey data collected in December 2008. The data allows us to verify whether “economic voting” in that election was of a traditional nature, that is based on retrospective assessments of economic conditions, or was more prospective in nature, that is based on perceptions of the parties' competence at managing the economic crisis that would soon follow. The impact on the vote of the issue of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec's losses is also analyzed.

Abstract. The federal government's power to appoint judges has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. While many suggest that partisan affiliation, gender and professional background may be influencing the Canadian appointment process, and some have called into question the fairness of such influences, little attention has been directed at determining whether these characteristics influence the outcome of cases. This paper studies decisions made by the Ontario Court of Appeal between 1990 and 2003 and uses a unique measure of partisan affiliation in an attempt to answer the question: do characteristics which play a role in the appointment process influence judicial decision making.

Résumé. Ces dernières années ont vu une augmentation de l'attention donné à l'autorité du gouvernement fédéral en ce qui concerne la nomination judiciaire. Il y en a plusieurs qui suggèrent que l'affiliation partisan, le sexe, et l'expérience professionnelle des candidats judiciaires sont tous des caractéristiques qui peuvent influencer la procédure de nomination. Encore d'autres ont remis en question l'équité d'un choix basé sur ces influences. Cependant, la question qui n'a pas reçu beaucoup d'attention jusqu'à maintenant est si ces caractéristiques influencent le résultat des affaires juridiques. L'article qui suit examine les décisions rendu par le Cour d'appel de l'Ontario entre les années 1990 et 2003, employant une mesure unique d'affiliation partisan, avec le but de répondre à la question : Est-ce que les caractéristiques qui peuvent jouer un rôle dans la procédure de nomination influencent les décisions judiciaires?

Voting behaviour in municipal elections is understudied in Canada. Existing research is limited by the type of data (aggregate instead of individual-level) and the cases evaluated (partisan when most contests are non-partisan). The objective of this study is to contribute to this literature by using individual-level data about a non-partisan election. To do so, we use data from the Toronto Election Study, conducted during the 2014 election. Our research goals are to evaluate whether a standard approach to understanding vote choice (the multi-stage explanatory model) is applicable in a non-partisan, municipal-level contest, and to determine the correlates of vote choice in the 2014 Toronto mayoral election in particular. Our analysis reveals that, although it was a formally non-partisan contest, voters tended to view the mayoral candidates in both ideological and partisan terms. We also find that a standard vote choice model provides valuable insight into voter preferences at the municipal level.

Abstract. Accumulating debt is usually harmful for states, but a cyclical deficit policy and large-scale borrowing have been beneficial for the United States. While structural changes in the international political economy may cap America's future ability to process debt, an empirical analysis of the economic dimensions of hegemony over the last quarter century shows unambiguously that the hegemon reaps disproportionate gains in the area of trade and investment. This finding provides new insight on whether it is advantageous to be a hegemon.

Résumé. Les États pâtissent généralement de l'accumulation des dettes, mais une politique de déficit cyclique et le recours à de larges emprunts ont pourtant été bénéfiques aux États-Unis. La capacité future de la puissance américaine à gérer sa dette sera peut-être entamée par les changements structurels subis par l'économie politique mondiale. Toutefois, l'analyse empirique des dimensions économiques de la situation d'hégémonie durant les vingt-cinq dernières années met à jour, et sans ambiguïté aucune, les gains disproportionnés générés par l'hégémon dans les domaines du commerce et de l'investissement. Cette recherche apporte un éclairage nouveau au débat sur les avantages liés à la position d'hégémon.

No country had been engaged in macro-constitutional politics so intensively for so long as Canada. Macro-constitutional politics, unlike ordinary constitutional politics are about the very nature of the political community on which the constitution is to be based. When constitutional politics is at the macro level, the constitutional question tends to dwarf all other issues. Except for a few short intervals Canada has been engaged in constitutional politics since the mid-1960s. Through this experience and most recently. Canadians have adopted a new constitutionalism requiring popular participation in constitution-making. Thus, as Canadians enter the fifth, and what they hope will be, the final round of macro-constitutional politics, they will find out whether they share enough in common to constitute themselves a single sovereign people.

In this section, consisting of five parts, we examine: (i) Malthus's views on “luxury”; (ii) his appraisal of the frequently expressed “export of work” argument; (iii) in what sense his doctrine was counter-revolutionary; (iv) his stand on measures to encourage marriage and natality; and (v) his position on optimum population.

Historically, French Canadians have not really believed in democracy for themselves; and English Canadians have not really wanted it for others. Such are the foundations upon which our two ethnic groups have absurdly pretended to be building democratic forms of government. No wonder the ensuing structure has turned out to be rather flimsy.

The purpose of the present essay is to re-examine some of the unstated premises from which much of our political thinking and behaviour is derived, and to suggest that there exists an urgent need for a critical appraisal of democracy in Canada. No amount of inter-group back-slapping or political bonne-ententisme will change the fact that democracy will continue to be thwarted in Canada so long as one-third of the people hardly believe in it—and that because to no small extent the remaining two-thirds provide them with ample grounds for distrusting it.

Abstract. Based on an examination of constitutional and other party documents, Canadian political parties have been described as stratarchically organized (Carty, 2002). We identify four models of internal party financial flows that correspond to different models of internal party organization. We then trace the financial flows into and within the four major Canadian political parties from 2004 to 2007 with a view to identifying the model of party organization that these flows indicate. Our evidence in some respects supports Carty's assertion that Canadian parties are stratarchically organized, but it also suggests that changes to the regulatory regime governing political finance have contributed to a centralization of power at the level of the national party and at the expense of candidates and local associations. This centralizing tendency is significant, as it may disrupt the bargain that underlies the stratarchical organization of Canadian parties.

Résumé. À la lumière d'une revue des constitutions et de divers autres documents des partis politiques canadiens, ces derniers ont été décrits comme étant organisés de manière stratarchique (Carty, 2002). Nous dégageons quatre modèles de flux monétaires internes des partis qui correspondent à différents modèles d'organisation interne des partis politiques. Nous retraçons les entrées de fonds des quatre principaux partis politiques canadiens et leur distribution interne de 2004 à 2007 en vue d'identifier le modèle d'organisation de parti qui correspond à ces flux monétaires. Sous certains rapports, nos résultats appuient l'argument de Carty affirmant que les partis canadiens sont organisés de manière stratarchique, mais ils suggèrent aussi que les changements apportés au régime régulateur gouvernant le financement politique ont contribué à une centralisation du pouvoir au niveau national des partis et ce aux dépens des candidats et des associations locales. Cette tendance centralisatrice est importante, car elle peut rompre le compromis qui sous-tend l'organisation stratarchique des partis politiques canadiens.

This article endeavours to explain why English Canadians and Quebeckers differ in their opinions about private healthcare options. Data indicates that respondents in the nine predominantly English-speaking provinces are more likely to oppose private hospitals than Quebeckers. No one province or region in “English Canada” drives these results: aversion to private hospitals is consistent across the nine provinces. Research on welfare states slots Canada into the “liberal” category, which is indicative of a preference for market solutions to welfare problems, which makes this finding perplexing. The argument presented here is that universal healthcare has become bound up with the national identity of English Canada, resulting in a general aversion to private healthcare initiatives outside of Quebec.