Political Behaviour/Sociology

F12 - Civil Society, Education, and Power / Société civile, éducation et pouvoir

Date: Jun 4 | Time: 12:00pm to 01:30pm | Location: SJA-252E

Chair/Président/Présidente : Hailey-Ann Walker (Carleton University)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Kenny Ie (University of British Columbia)

Voluntary Silence: Civil Society and Policy Engagement in Canadian Federal Elections: John Cameron (Dalhousie University), Lauchlan Munro (University of Ottawa)
Abstract: This paper explores public policy engagement by civil society organizations (CSOs) during federal elections in Canada. In theory, elections represent an important opportunity for CSOs to engage Canadians in public policy debates. However, very few CSOs do this. Our paper seeks to explain why. The Elections Act requires that third parties that spend more than $500 to promote a public policy position during a federal election must register with Elections Canada and report their spending. Data from the last 8 federal elections (2000-2021) show that few CSOs have ever registered and that most reported spending very small amounts. CSOs that normally engage in public policy advocacy go silent during elections. Using Elections Canada data on third party registrations as a starting point, this paper is based on interviews with CSO leaders from various sectors about decisions to register during the 2015, 2019 and 2021 federal elections and ongoing research about decisions to register in the next federal election. The complexity of the Elections Act is an important constraint for some CSOs but two other factors are more important: 1) concerns to appear non-partisan to politicians and voters, and 2) the difficulties and high costs of being heard during elections campaigns. The paper also reflects on the implications for democracy of CSO policy engagement during elections in relation to contemporary debates about how to ensure a level playing field for political parties and candidates in Canadian elections (including the current challenge to Ontario’s election law at the Supreme Court of Canada).

Political Culture Meets Public Opinion: The Case of Alberta: Jared Wesley (University of Alberta)
Abstract: Political scientists typically treat political culture as an aggregation of public opinion over time. But what happens when individual attitudes conflict with age-old conceptions of how politics "should be" conducted in a given community? Alberta provides a prime case study in this disjunction. Based on five years of survey and focus group data, the Common Ground initiative has been investigating the difference between who Albertans are as individuals and who they see themselves to be as a community. The results reveal a provincial population that is decidedly more moderate (and even progressive) than its wild-west (conservative) political culture suggests. This paper examines the roots of this misalignment, its consequences on politics in the province, and its implications for studying the intersection of political culture and public opinion.