Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics

Canadian party politics collapsed in the early 1990s. This book isabout that collapse, about the end of a party system, with a uniquepattern of party organization and competition, that had governedCanada's national politics for several decades, and about theongoing struggle to build its successor. Rebuilding Canadian PartyPolitics discusses the breakdown of the old party system, theemergence of the Reform Party and the Bloc Québécois, and the fate ofthe Conservative and New Democratic Parties. It focuses on the internalworkings of parties in this new era, examining the role ofprofessionals, new technologies, and local activists. To understand the ambiguities of our current party system, theauthors attended local and national party meetings, nomination andleadership meetings, and campaign kick-off rallies. They visited localcampaign offices to observe the parties' grassroots operations andconducted interviews with senior party officials, pollsters, media andadvertising specialists, and leader-tour directors. Written in a lively and accessible style, this book will intereststudents of party politics and Canadian political history, as well asgeneral readers eager to make sense of the changes reshaping nationalpolitics today.