The Conservative Parfy of Canada and Brokerage politics By Joseph Ahorro A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Political Studies Uuiversity of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba @ Joseph Ahono, September 2006 THE UNWERSITY OF MANITOBÄ FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES :t*t<** COPYRIGHT PERMISSION The Conservative Party of Canada and Brokerage politics BY Joseph Ahorro A Thesis/Practicum submitted to the Facurty of Graduate Studies ofrhe university of Manitoba in partial fulfillment of the requirement of the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Joseph Ahorro @ 2006 Permission has been granted to.the Library ofthe University of Manitoba to lend or sell copies of this thesis/practicum, the to National Library ofCanâda to microfitm this thesis and to lend or sell copies of the film, and to University Microfilms Inc. to publish an abstract of thís thesis/practicum. 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CONTENTS List of Illustrations List of Tables vi Preface and Acknowledgements vll Abstract Introduction Chapter One - Defining the Brokerage and Ideological Models of Party Behaviour 4 Introduction 4 The Brokerage Model 7 The Organizational Approach The Sociological Approach _.. 13 Criticism of the Brokerage Model 16 The Ideological Model 20 Examining the External Face of Parties .. 23 Examining the Intemal Aftributes of Parlies ..___..._._.. 26 Problems with Ideology and the Ideological Model 30 Chapter Two - A Furlher Look at the Canadian Allia¡ce and the Progressive Conservative Party............,..... 34 Int¡oduction 34 The 2000 Election 35 An Examination of the Leaders 36 Public Perception of Leaders . 40 Overview of Party Platforms --......_........_....47 Prioritization of Issues 48 Platform Details 50 Analysis of Extemal Face of Parlies 54 Policy Attitudes of Party Members 57 Methodology .... ___...__......... 60 Are Members Motivated by Policy? ..._......60 Is There a Structure to Members' Views? ___..._...,,__ ........62 Is There Substantial parties? attitudinal Coherence Within the .._. ..67 parties? Is There Substantial Issue Space Between the Two .......,68 Analysis of Parly Members 71 Chapter Three - Merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party 74 Introduction __..............._............,...-7 4 Long-Term partisan Factors: A Bi-Dimensional Model of Issue Cleavages .......__... 76 Short-Term Factors: Goal-Oriented Party Decisions ......___...__........_ g9 Application of the Harmel and Janda Theory ...........______........ 90 Effects of External and Internal Stimuli on Primarv Goals of Reform./Canadian Alliance ô1 Effects of External and Internal Stimuli on the Primary Goals of the Progressive Conservative Party 102 Conclusion 113 Chapter Four - The Conservative Party of Canada and Brokerage Politics ll7 Introduction 1t'7 An Examination of External Attributes ..117 Agreement-in-Principle ,, 118 An Examination of Leadership Selection 119 Constitution 122 2004 Campaign Platform 124 Platform Details 125 Conservative Party Policies t32 2006 Campaign Platform .,_. t39 Platforrn Details 139 Analysis of Extemal Face of Parties 146 An Examination of Internal Attributes .......149 The 2004 Campaign ___... 150 Campaign Structure and Strategy ..... 150 Candidate Profiles 153 The 2006 Campaign 156 Campaign Structure and Strategy 156 Impacts of the 2004 and 2006 Campaigns on Perception . 161 An Analysis of the Internal Attributes of the Party 164 Conclusion 168 Limitations of the Research 171 Works Cited 174 Appendices l. Conservative Party of Canada Constitution Principles 183 2. Questions Used in Factorial Analysis 186 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page 2a Evaluations of Leaders (5-Day Moving Average) /11 2b Figure 2b Issues by Party .............__-.. 49 2c Figure 2c Variance within Parties 3a Bi-Dimensional Policy Space in Canada, with Regional Alienation Dimension 8t 3b Bi-Dimensional Policy Space in Canada, with Pro/Anti-Québec Dimension 82 3c The 1998 Election Spatial Model .. 84 3d The 1993 Election Spatial Model .. 85 3e The 1997 Election Spatial Model ,_ 86 3f The 2000 Election Spatial Model -_ 87 TABLES Table Page 2.t Leader Evaluations (Last Seven Days of2000 Campaign) _,. ..40 2.2 Perceptions of Leade¡s' Personal Traits 43 2.3 The Relative Impact of Socio-Economic Characteristics, Values and Beliefs, Party Identification, and Personal Traits on Leader Evaluations ..... 44 2.4 Impoftance for joining either the Canadian Alliance (CA) or Progressive Conservatives (PC) 61 2.5 The "Best Thing" About Being a Party Member 62 ¿.o Factor Analyses of Responses to preferences Questions on Attitudinal -__..., 66 2.7 Factor scores by Party on social tolerance. laissez-faire economic approach, provincial powers, and populism ...._.70 3.1 Summary Data for the Reform Party, 1994 to 1998 ...._.96 4.1 2004 Conservative Leadership Contest Results by province 121 4-2 Number of Harper and MaÍin Campaign Events by Region and Campaign Period t52 4.3 Alliance Incumbents as a Percentage of Conservative Candidates in western canada .....--...... _....-... ...__..._......,... 154 4.4 2004 Conservative Candidates with Previous Federal progressive Conservative or Reform/Alliance Candidacies (1997 and 2000) in Ontario and Québec.....-,___.... r55 4.5 Cornparing Canadians' Views Across th e 2004 and 2006 Campaigns (Outside of Québec.¡ 162 PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thesis fopic, The Conservative Party of Canada and Brokerage politics, was rooted in my personal interest in political campaigns and fostered by my undergraduate classes in canadian politics as well as in classical and contemporary political theory. Given their recent emergence in 2003, much has been commented in the media and the general public about the conservative Party of canada. Yet little has been written or carefully scrutinized on this new entity. My thesis aims to further our understanding of canadian political party behaviour and conservative politics by examining how the new Conservative Party organizes and conducts itself. Is the Conservative party an ideological party like their predecessors Refom/Alliance, or does it resemble a brokerage party like the preceding Progressive Conservatives? The scope of rny research considers behaviour of Canada,s major parties that were or are represented in Parliament since 1984. Although worthy of further study, minor parties like the Green Party or the Canadian Acton Party \tr'ere not considered simply because they were beyond the range of my topic. Synthesizing my thesis has been a humbling exercise of exfensive research and constructive writing. This endeavor would not have been possible without the aid and encouragement of several people. I want to thank my Thesis Advisor, Dr. Richard Sigurdson, and before him, Dr. David Stewart (now at the University of Calgary) for their patience, guidance, and helpful suggestions in the development and maturation ofthis thesis. Likewise, I want to express my appreciation for the valuable time and careful consideration of my examining committee - Dr. fuchard Sigurdson, Dr. Paul Thomas, Dr. Barry Ferguson, and Dr. Geoffrey Lambert. I also want to offer my gratitude to the Faculty members of the Department of Political studies at the university of Manitoba - in particular Dr. Brenda O'Neill (now at the University of Calgary), Dr. Davis Daycock, Dr. George Knysh, Dr. George Maclean, Dr. James Fergusson, Dr. Margaret Ogrodnick, Dr. Conrado Santos, and P¡ofessor william Neville for all their advise and encouragement throughout my graduate studies while at the university of Manitoba. Equally, I want to express my thanks to the staff of the Department, namely shirley McFaren, catharine Dunlop, and Linda Latour for their unconditional support since the beginning. I would also like to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research council of canada, the Duff Roblin Potitical Studies Fellowship committee, and the university of Manitoba Faculty of Arts for their financial support for my research and conference travel where I was able to present my findings to the academic community. I am also grateful to Dr. Lisa Young of the University of Calgary, and Dr. William Cross of carleton university for the use of thei¡ data set from tlie 2000 canadian political party Members Survey. Additionally, I want to thank Dr. Steve patten from the university of Alberta for providing me primary research documents from the Reform, canadian Alliance, and Plogressive conservative Parties. As well, I am indebted to Dr. Neil Nevitte of the university of roronto, Dr. Elisabeth Gidengit of McGill university, Dr. Joanna Everitt of the university of New Brunswick, Dr. André Blais and Dr. patrick Fournier of université de Montréal, for the use of their data sets from the canada Election studies. Thank you to Andrew Buchel for assisting me in the interpretation and analysis ofthe data. On a personal level, I want to thank my close friends within the Group _ Christopher, Nicholas, Romel, Ivan, James, Kevin, and Shawn; the Dead politics Society - Joelle, Denys, Amanda, Wilson, and Sunny; and to those I also keep close at heart _ Eddsel, Colin, Jenny, Lisa-Marie, Alana, Roland, Heather, Scott and Theresa. The experiences we share are alÌ so deep, captured in the vast sea of my memory. Lastly, I want to convey how grateful I am to have such a loving family _ Mom, Dad, Brenda, and sheryl. Some people are lucky, I conside¡ myself blessed to have them. you are a harbour in the tempest of life. This is the time to persevere. we will do what is hard. we will achieve what is great. This is a time to persevere, and we reach for the heavens. I promise you I will work to live up to your expectations. I can offer no more, and you should expect nothing less. ABSTRACT This thesis analyses the type ofparty behaviour the conservative party of canada exhibits.