Political Engagement in Canadian City Elections
Political Engagement in Canadian City Elections

Author: R. Michael McGregor

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2024-03-12

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 0228020263

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Municipal elections in Canada don’t look much like those held at the federal and provincial levels. A key difference is a significant discrepancy in voter turnout, but relatively little is known about why far fewer people vote in city elections. Voters show less interest in local government, seeing it as less influential than other levels, yet they believe their views matter more to local politicians. Political Engagement in Canadian City Elections explores this apparent contradiction by asking who participates in politics, how they go about it, and why. Drawing from the Canadian Municipal Election Study, a novel survey of electors in eight large cities across the country in 2017 and 2018, contributors consider factors ranging from the universal – such as the demographic profile of voters or how economic conditions affect them – to the specific – for example, participation in school board and council elections. There are more municipal elections than any other kind in Canada. The discoveries in Political Engagement in Canadian City Elections collectively represent a major leap forward in our understanding of voter activity at the community and municipal level.

Hometown Inequality
Hometown Inequality

Author: Brian F. Schaffner

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-07-09

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1108659888

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Local governments play a central role in American democracy, providing essential services such as policing, water, and sanitation. Moreover, Americans express great confidence in their municipal governments. But is this confidence warranted? Using big data and a representative sample of American communities, this book provides the first systematic examination of racial and class inequalities in local politics. We find that non-whites and less-affluent residents are consistent losers in local democracy. Residents of color and those with lower incomes receive less representation from local elected officials than do whites and the affluent. Additionally, they are much less likely than privileged community members to have their preferences reflected in local government policy. Contrary to the popular assumption that governments that are “closest” govern best, we find that inequalities in representation are most severe in suburbs and small towns. Typical reforms do not seem to improve the situation, and we recommend new approaches.

Accountability and Responsiveness at the Municipal Level
Accountability and Responsiveness at the Municipal Level

Author: Sandra Breux

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2018-07-02

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0773553746

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In Canada, the quality of municipal democracy has been questioned due to three crucial factors. First, voter turnout tends to be significantly lower for municipal elections than it is for other levels of government. Second, the re-election rate of incumbent candidates is higher compared to provincial, territorial, and federal elections. Third, corruption and other scandals have tarnished the image of local democracy. Are cities sufficiently capable of responding to crises and representing the interests of their residents? Accountability and Responsiveness at the Municipal Level addresses these issues through qualitative and quantitative analysis, focusing on some of the most important characteristics of the Canadian municipal scene, including the contexts of partisanship and non-partisanship, the careers and daily work of municipal officials, and multilevel governance. This volume also assists directly in the collection and dissemination of data about cities as there is currently no centralized system for capturing and organizing electoral statistics at the municipal level. Municipal democracy in Canada suffers from a representation deficit. Accountability and Responsiveness at the Municipal Level is an important first step in building high-quality comparative information on the politics of Canada’s cities.

Electing a Diverse Canada
Electing a Diverse Canada

Author: Caroline Andrew

Publisher: UBC Press

Published: 2009-07-01

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 0774858583

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Electing a Diverse Canada presents the most extensive analysis to date of the electoral representation of immigrants, minorities, and women in Canada. Covering eleven cities, as well as Canada's Parliament, it breaks new ground by assessing the representation of diverse identity groups across multiple levels of government. Electoral representation is an important indicator of a democracy's health, and this book provides both a baseline for future research and an outline of the key challenges facing Canadian democracy.

Big City Elections in Canada
Big City Elections in Canada

Author: Jack Lucas

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 1487528566

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This collection offers an in-depth look at municipal voting behaviour during local elections in eight of Canada's largest cities.

Making Politics Work for Development
Making Politics Work for Development

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2016-07-14

Total Pages: 350

ISBN-13: 1464807744

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Governments fail to provide the public goods needed for development when its leaders knowingly and deliberately ignore sound technical advice or are unable to follow it, despite the best of intentions, because of political constraints. This report focuses on two forces—citizen engagement and transparency—that hold the key to solving government failures by shaping how political markets function. Citizens are not only queueing at voting booths, but are also taking to the streets and using diverse media to pressure, sanction and select the leaders who wield power within government, including by entering as contenders for leadership. This political engagement can function in highly nuanced ways within the same formal institutional context and across the political spectrum, from autocracies to democracies. Unhealthy political engagement, when leaders are selected and sanctioned on the basis of their provision of private benefits rather than public goods, gives rise to government failures. The solutions to these failures lie in fostering healthy political engagement within any institutional context, and not in circumventing or suppressing it. Transparency, which is citizen access to publicly available information about the actions of those in government, and the consequences of these actions, can play a crucial role by nourishing political engagement.

The Past, Present, and Future of Canadian Cities
The Past, Present, and Future of Canadian Cities

Author: Alexandra Flynn

Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP

Published: 2024-10-15

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 0228022347

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In 1861, just a few years before Confederation, 84 per cent of Canadians lived in rural areas; today, it’s less than 20 per cent. Our municipal governments are asked to do more for their citizens than ever before, yet they must confront myriad challenges – from the public health pandemic to the housing crisis – without the tools they need. They have no constitutional protection from jurisdictional overstepping by provincial governments and no assurance that they will be able to complete any effort they undertake. The Past, Present, and Future of Canadian Cities explores the historical functions of municipalities, their current ability to tackle major problems, and what the future holds for shifting legal and political powers. This volume examines how pre-Confederation cities came to have their current constitutional and legislative forms; how current local governments make decisions within existing legal parameters, highlighting Indigenous-municipal relationships and emergency management; and, finally, looks to the world to investigate future innovation in municipal governance. The Past, Present, and Future of Canadian Cities makes the case that constitutional concepts must be repurposed to support the transition from nation-building to city-building in a global context.

The Increasingly United States
The Increasingly United States

Author: Daniel J. Hopkins

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2018-05-30

Total Pages: 307

ISBN-13: 022653040X

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In a campaign for state or local office these days, you’re as likely today to hear accusations that an opponent advanced Obamacare or supported Donald Trump as you are to hear about issues affecting the state or local community. This is because American political behavior has become substantially more nationalized. American voters are far more engaged with and knowledgeable about what’s happening in Washington, DC, than in similar messages whether they are in the South, the Northeast, or the Midwest. Gone are the days when all politics was local. With The Increasingly United States, Daniel J. Hopkins explores this trend and its implications for the American political system. The change is significant in part because it works against a key rationale of America’s federalist system, which was built on the assumption that citizens would be more strongly attached to their states and localities. It also has profound implications for how voters are represented. If voters are well informed about state politics, for example, the governor has an incentive to deliver what voters—or at least a pivotal segment of them—want. But if voters are likely to back the same party in gubernatorial as in presidential elections irrespective of the governor’s actions in office, governors may instead come to see their ambitions as tethered more closely to their status in the national party.