The Survival and Success of the CCF-NDP in Western Canada
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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2021-04-30 Contagion in the West: The Survival and Success of the CCF-NDP in Western Canada Molineaux, Connor John Molineaux, C. J. (2021). Contagion in the West: The Survival and Success of the CCF-NDP in Western Canada (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/113347 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Contagion in the West: The Survival and Success of the CCF-NDP in Western Canada by Connor John Molineaux A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN POLITICAL SCIENCE CALGARY, ALBERTA APRIL, 2021 © Connor John Molineaux 2021 Abstract The CCF-NDP is the lone survivor of a number of new political parties to emerge in Western Canada around the mid-twentieth century. While most of those parties long ago disappeared, the CCF-NDP has not only survived, but has thrived. The CCF-NDP has successfully formed government in all four western provinces, even as it faces a very different combination of parties in each. In Alberta, the NDP first formed government in 2015, an astounding seventy-five years after its first election in the province. How did the CCF-NDP manage to persist and succeed in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan for so long when most other parties have failed? In this thesis, I argue that the CCF-NDP has managed to survive because it possesses certain organizational features that other parties lack. As a social democratic party, the CCF- NDP has maintained a core base of committed activists who sustain the organization even when it is electorally weak. The party competes in elections across multiple provinces and at the federal level, giving it organizational redundancy that most other parties lack. And the party has consistently been willing to reach out to new groups of voters by moderating its policies, but without losing its central identity as a social democratic party. I show this using process tracing by identifying the factors that contribute to the success or failure of several insurgent parties, including the CCF-NDP, at critical moments of electoral dealignment across each of the four western provinces. ii Preface This thesis is original, unpublished, independent work by the author, Connor Molineaux. iii Acknowledgements This thesis has created innumerable debts. Nonetheless, I will try to enumerate them. Thanks to the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary for the financial support to complete this thesis and for being a consistently welcoming and intellectually stimulating place to study. Thanks also to the 2017-2020 editorial team of the Canadian Journal of Political Science and the team behind the imagiNation 150 project for the fantastic extra-curricular opportunities I had while completing this degree. Thanks to my friends and colleagues in grad school, of whom there were many. In particular, thanks to Jessica Weber for being a consistent reminder that good friendships are indispensable, for always being willing to discuss the toughest of questions, and for many lively dinner parties. To John Santos, thanks for enduring the constant interruptions I created in the office as we debated all manner of things. Thanks for pushing me to be rigorous in my work and my thought, and for your contagious excitement for the work we do. And thanks to Andrew Klain for being a model of good work ethic, for helping me find humour in the most surprising of places, and for helping me find interesting puzzles in topics I might never have considered. A special thanks also to my senior colleagues in the PhD program including Julie Croskill, Mark Harding, and Chance Minnett Watchel for friendship and good advice. To my friends outside grad school, thank you for keeping me grounded, and reminding me there is much more to life than work. Thanks to my many teachers and mentors, whose lessons extended well beyond the classroom. To Mark Baron, Ian Brodie, Maureen Hiebert, Jack Lucas, Ted Morton, Pablo Policzer, Trevor Shelley, David Stewart, and Melanee Thomas, thank you. iv To my parents, thank you for your faith in my decisions and abilities, and for helping me to know when to take a break and when to remind me to “finish your paper”. My biggest debt is to Anthony Sayers, an outstanding supervisor who helped me find the potential for a project amid many half-baked ideas. This thesis would have been impossible without your generous advice, encouragement, and prodding. I am equally thankful for our many off-topic but truly enlightening conversations. Thank you. v Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Preface............................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. ix List of Figures ................................................................................................................................. x List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................... xii Epigraph .......................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 2 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE AND METHODS ................................................................. 22 CHAPTER THREE: SASKATCHEWAN ................................................................................... 40 Overview of Saskatchewan’s Party System .............................................................................. 42 Party System Development ....................................................................................................... 51 Analysis..................................................................................................................................... 66 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 70 CHAPTER FOUR: ALBERTA .................................................................................................... 71 Overview of Alberta’s Party System ........................................................................................ 73 Party System Development ....................................................................................................... 80 Analysis..................................................................................................................................... 96 vi Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 100 CHAPTER FIVE: MANITOBA ................................................................................................. 102 Overview of Manitoba’s Party System ................................................................................... 103 Party System Development ..................................................................................................... 109 Analysis................................................................................................................................... 125 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 129 CHAPTER SIX: BRITISH COLUMBIA ................................................................................... 130 Overview of British Columbia’s Party System ....................................................................... 132 Party System Development ..................................................................................................... 139 Analysis................................................................................................................................... 157 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 161 CHAPTER SEVEN: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ...................................................... 162 Summary ................................................................................................................................. 162 The Effect of the NDP on the West .......................................................................................