THE USE OF NEW ELECTRONIC TECHNOLOGY BY CANADIAN PARTIES by Douglas A. DeRabbie Department of Politicai Science Submitted in partial fulfihnent of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Faculty of Graduate Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario December 1996 Douglas A. DeRabbie 1997 National Library Biblioth&que nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Se~*ces sewkes bibliographiques 395 welmgbn Street 395. Ne W~ngton -ON K1AW OtrawaON KlAW Canada Canada The author has a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence- dowing the exclusive permettant à la Nationai Library of Canada to Bibiiothe<iiK nationale du Canada de repmduce, 1- distrihie a sell reprodiiire, prêtex, distr'buerou copies ofhis/her thesis by any means vendrtdescopiesdesathèse& and in any fami or format, making p19ue manière et sous quelque forme que ce soit pour mettre des exemplaires de cette thèse à la disposition des personnes intéressées. The author retains ownership of the L'allteur conseme la propriété du copyright m Merthesis. Neither droit d'auteur qui protège sa thèse. Ni the thesis nor substantial extnicts la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de fiom it may be printed or otherwise cel.le-cine doivent être imprimés ou reproduced with the author's autrement reproduits sans son pamission. ABSTRACT The thesis explores how the use of new electxonic technology has changed party furid-raising methods and the conduct of party election carnpaigns ta determine whether Canadian political parties are experiencing a transformation. The thesis looks at how parties use computers to conduct research, polling, and conmunication. It then examines the impact of that technology on the structure of the national parties, particularly their riding associations. Finally, the thes is reviews how success fully Canadian parties have adap ted to the new technology. Through the use of new electronic technology, Canadian parties have found new ways to fulfil traditional soles, as well as beginning to perform new ones. Parties are strongly centralizing in the hands of the national offices, and thus having a detrimental effect on local parties. Canadian parties have had difficulty adapting to the new technology for a number of reasons. Nevertheless, they are entering a new party systera. iii This thesis is dedicated to rny mother for al1 her patience and support. 1 would like to thank Professor S.J.R. Noel for his guidance and insight. 1 would also like to thank Doug Ferguson and Marg Stewart for providing invaluable information. TABLE Page CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION . ..ii ABSTRACT .................... .iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............ ...v TABLE OF CONTENTS. .......... .vi LIST OF TABLES .............. viii LIST OF APPENDICES .......... ix CHAPTERI-INTRODUCTION....................................... 1 1 . The Impact of the New Technology on Party Furictions . -3 2 . The impact of the New Technology on Party Structure . -4 3 . The Impact of the New Technology on Parties and Politics .............................................. 5 4.Methodology ...........................................6 5.TheSt~ctureoftheThesis........................... 8 Endnotes .............................................11 CHAPTER 2-THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON PARTY FUNCTZONS ...... -13 1 . Individual Level Data Collection and-alysis ........14 2 . PublicOpinionPolling ............................... 19 3 . Cornputer AssistedTelephone Interviewhg Systems .....22 4 . PoliticalComuriication.............................. 25 5 . Direct Mail: List Production. ....................... -26 6 . DirectMail: Fund-Raising ...........................-27 7-DirectMail: Targetbg ............................... 29 8 . Voter Communication: Electronic Mail and the Intemet ............................................. 35 Endnotes .............................................42 CHAPTER 3-THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON PARTY ORGANIZATION ....49 1 . The Impact of Technology on Local Party Fund-Raising -49 2 . The Impact of Technology on Local Party Activity .....57 3 . Obstacles to Local Use of Technology .................60 4 . The Impact of Technology on Local Volunteers .. .. .....63 5 The Impact of Technology on Local Party Organization . 69 6 . The Impact of Technology on Local Carnpaigns ..........74 Endnotes .............................................79 TheMarkethg Industryand Politics ........ The Influence 0fAmerica.n Parties .......... Borrowing FromOther Canadian Parties ...... Adoptingthe New Technology ......-.......... Obstacles to the Adoption of New Technology Budgetary Concerns ......................... Endnotes ................................... vii LIST OF TABLES Table Description Page 1 Number of Individual Contributions to Parties,,,.,.30 II Constituency Association Assets .................... 50 III Election Revenues and Expenses of Liberal Candidates .........................................52 Revenues, Expenses and Reimbuxsement of Candidates, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1993 General Elections .................................. 54 V Funds Currently Available to Constituency Associations, 1991 ................................. 55 VI The Diffusion of Political Innovation, ,............90 VI1 Election Expenses of Parties and Candidates .......107 viii LIST OF APPENDICES ~ppendix Page APPENDIX A London South 1990 Election Analysis ...... 119 APPENDIX B Generai Canvass Entry Form ...............120 APPENDIX C Cornputer Campaign Fields .................121 APPENDIX D Compusearch Report ....................... 122 APPENDIX E Letter from Sue Barnes. Candidate ........123 CfUPmR 1: INTRODUCTXO~ The use of new electronic technology has become an increasingly important facet of Canadian electoral politics. The purpose of this thesis is to explore how the use of that technology has changed party fund-raising methods and the conduct of party election campaigns. The main (but not exclusive) focus is upon the federal Liberal Party, using the London West Liberal Association as a riding level case study. The main questions which will be examined are : does the use of new technology constrain a party's ability to perform its traditional roles, or does the new technology rather enable a party to perform those roles more efficiently and more effectively? Or does new technology create new roles? John Meisel and Matthew Mendelsohn identify seven tasks that have been assigned to Canadian political parties: providing links between citizens and the state; setting the policy agenda and formulating policy; recruitment of elites; organization of government; st~cturing the vote and elections; organizing public opinion; and aggregating interests. They then proceed to argue that technological change has led parties to experience a relative decline over the past thirty years in their ability to fulfil these roles in the Canadian political system. They cite, for instance, the increased use of polling which has diminished the need for local volunteers to relay their knowledge of public sentiments to elected representatives. Moreover, they maintain, that 2 various forms of cornputer technology have reduced the two-way flow of communication between parties and voters .' Despite the evidence of decline, Meisel and Mendelsohn liken Canadian parties to chameleons which constantly survey the political landscape, transforming themselves to react to new circumstances in order to sustain their relevance as part of the Canadian political process . They accordingly feel that parties are becoming increasingly aware of the gap between themselves and voters and are evolving in order to find new ways to perform their traditional role~.~In other words, parties are transforming themselves in response ta changes in the environment.' The argument of this thesis is that one of their most important responses is the adoption of new electronic technology for fund-raising and campaign purposes. R.K. Carty has divided Canadian political history into three party systems. ~eisel and Mendelsohn suggest that although the third and most recent party system (1963 to the present) was characterized by party decline, it may have been a transitional stage to which parties are adapting themselves, and a new "fourth" system is now emerging which is defined above al1 by the parties0 use of the new campaign technology. It would seem that the parties' main objective in this fourth system is to reestablish links with voters through various technological devices, such as direct mail, persona1 (as opposed to mass) media. and public opinion polls .' This new party system, Meisel and Mendelsohn speculate. may be 7 d distinguished by "hyper-accountability", and in the long run may serve to reaffirm the electoraters attachent to political institutions by involving broad participation and offering more direct links between parties and voters.' In order to detemine whether Canadian parties are entering a fourth party system, the thesis will review evidence so as to chart changes, if any, in party functions, behaviour and organization. THS -ACT OI THB HBW -LOGY ON PmTY mTIONS Cornputer applications such as polling, direct mail, demographic analysis, and voter identification have transformed the ways in which parties go after votes by providing a cheaper, faster and more sophisticated means of handling inf onnation. In doing so , the new electronic technology brought about by the communications revolution may also re-shape the ways in which voters interact with parties by providing for meaningful two-way contact