nm u Ottawa L'UniversiW canadienne Canada's university run FACULTE DES ETUDES SUPERIEURES l==l FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND ET POSTOCTORALES U Ottawa POSDOCTORAL STUDIES L'Umversitc t aiiddienne Cdiiadd's university Pamela Stephens AUTEUR DE LA THESE / AUTHOR OF THESIS M.A. (Communication) GRADE/DEGREE Faculty of Arts - Department of Communication FACULTE, ECOLE, DEPARTEMENT / FACULTY, SCHOOL, DEPARTMENT Outreaching the Inside: Looking into the Conservative Party of Canada's Reflexive Communication Code TITRE DE LA THESE / TITLE OF THESIS Mahmoud Eid CO-DIRECTEUR (CO-DIRECTRICE) DE LA THESE / THESIS CO-SUPERVISOR RoedLuppicini Lise_Boily_ Gary W. Slater Le Doyen de la Faculte des etudes superieures et postdoctorales / Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Outreaching the Inside: Looking into the Conservative Party of Canada's Reflexive Communication Code Pamela Stephens Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the M.A. in Communication Department of Communication Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Pamela Stephens, Ottawa, Canada, 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre inference ISBN: 978-0-494-73746-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-73746-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada Abstract In light of immigration trends and projected growth scenarios, the so-called ethnic vote in Canada is more important than ever for any political party that seeks to form a majority government. Beginning in 2004 there is evidence to suggest the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) adopted a sophisticated ethnic outreach strategy aimed at winning support among cultural and ethnic groups. Drawing on Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince (1513), Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens' theories on reflexivity (1994), Jiirgen Habermas' public sphere (1962), and Jennifer Lees-Marshment's analysis of marketing techniques in political communication (2001), this thesis examines the motives, goals and outcomes of the reflexive communication code of the CPC as demonstrated in the national and local campaign levels. The research design for this thesis is qualitative and uses in-depth interviews and archival data collection methods to explore whether the ethnic outreach efforts and new policy positions of the CPC are a genuine reflection of a shift in ideology or a carefully calibrated strategy to obtain power. While interviewees claim the CPC's strategies are designed to better communicate with voters and encourage civic engagement, the influence of Machiavellian ethics and political marketing strategies suggest the outreach efforts may not be entirely altruistic. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank God, my family, friends and coworkers for supporting me in my pursuit to complete a Masters of Arts (Communication) at the University of Ottawa. Your encouragement and understanding mean so very much to me. I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Mahmoud Eid for his guidance, insights, contributions and patience in the completion of this thesis. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Lise Boily and Dr. Rocci Luppiccini for their comments and suggestions as reviewers. Your insights and input are highly appreciated. Finally, I would like to thank the participants in this study for their time and cooperation. iii Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements Hi Table of Contents iv List of Tables vii Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Preface 1 Research Problem and Objectives 5 Thesis Overview 7 Chapter 2: Literature Review 10 The Prince (1513): A Renaissance How-To Guide For Obtaining Power 10 Politics as a Science 12 The Art of Deceit 14 Is it better to be feared, loved or both? 17 Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan (1651): A Machiavellian view of Human Nature 20 Ulrich Beck & Anthony Giddens: Reflexive Politics 22 Habermas and the "Bourgeois Public Sphere" 27 "Counter-publics" 29 Political Marketing 33 POP, SOP, MOP: The Lees-Marshment Model (2001) 36 MOPs in Canadian Politics 38 The Reflexive Communication Code 45 Chapter 3: Methodology 49 Definitions of Key Concepts 49 Research Design 54 Research Questions 56 Data Collection and Analysis 57 iv Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis 64 A New Party, A New Strategy (2004 - 2006) 64 Outreaching the Inside (2006-2008) 71 On Ethnic Ground: The 2008 Federal Election Campaign 84 The Ground War: An Examination of CPC local campaigns 86 A second minority, supported by minorities (2008 - present) 98 The Battle for the Jewish Vote 102 Kenney's Canada: Multiculturalism 2.0? 104 The CPC Reflexive Communication Code 109 Political Communication Ethics 110 Reflexive Communication: Motives, Goals and Outcomes 111 Chapter 5: Conclusion . 122 Significant Findings 122 Thesis Summary 124 Limitations and Implications 126 References , 128 Appendices 143 Appendix A: CPC Policy Declaration, 2004, page 29 143 Appendix B: 2007 Rosh Hashanah greeting card form Prime Minister Stephen Harper and family {front and back) 144 Appendix C: 2008 Rosh Hashanah greeting card form Prime Minister Stephen Harper and family 145 Appendix D: Conservative Party Conference 2007 - Ethnic Outreach presentation by Jason Kenney, page 10 146 Appendix E: Conservative Party Conference 2007 - Ethnic Outreach presentation by Jason Kenney, page 32 147 Appendix F: Sample flier distributed by a CPC candidate - English and Korean (name is removed to protect confidentiality) 148 Appendix G: Sample flier distributed by a CPC candidate - English and Farsi (name is removed to protect confidentiality) 149 v Appendix H: Copy of flyer that was distributed by the CPC in ridings with high Jewish populations 150 Appendix I: Copy of flyer that was distributed by the CPC in ridings with high Jewish populations 150 vi List of Tables Table 1: The marketing process for POPs, SOPs, and MOPs: the Lees-Marshment model (2001) 37 Table 2: "Outreach Strategy - Reaching Out for Success!" (Kenney, 2007) 81 Table 3: CPC Sample Ethnic Outreach Strategy - Thornhill (Kenney, 2007) 82 vii Chapter 1 Introduction Preface Canada has enjoyed a long history of immigration and multiculturahsm, two policy areas which have been historically intertwined, beginning with the Citizenship Act (1947) which formally recognized Canada's first official citizen as then Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Later, in 1960, the Progressive Conservative Party (PC), under the leadership of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker, formally terminated Canada's racist immigration policies that gave preference to white, European applicants. The first visible minority Members of Parliament were featured as part of Diefenbaker's government, including Douglas Jung, the first non-Caucasian Member of Parliament, Lincoln Alexander, the first African-Canadian Member of Parliament, and Michael Starr, the first Canadian of Ukrainian descent to serve in Cabinet. Diefenbaker was also the first Prime Minister of neither wholly British nor French ancestry1 and created the first Bill of Rights (1960) for citizens of Canada. LPC Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson succeeded Diefenbaker and also became known as a champion of ethnic diversity in Canada, creating the world's first race-free points-based immigration system, a version of which is still used today (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, 2008). Pearson was also internationally renowned for his diplomatic work with the founding of the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). 1 Prime Minister John Diefenbaker was of German and Scottish descent. 1 Though the PC played a substantive role in forming the conversation about cultural and ethnic diversity in Canada, it was Canada's 15th Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, who forever changed the face of multiculturalism in Canada. In 1971, Trudeau