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The National Growth of a Regional Party: Evidence of Linkages between Constituency Associations in the Conservative Party of Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2020

Rob Currie-Wood Open the ORCID record for Rob Currie-Wood [Opens in a new window]
Rob Currie-Wood*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, 1125 Colonel By Drive, D681, Loeb Building, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6
*
*Corresponding author. Email: robcurriewood@cmail.carleton.ca
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Abstract

Reforms to campaign finance laws at the beginning of the twenty-first century led to concerns that Canadian political parties would become more centralized, thereby altering the stratarchical arrangement between local party organizations and the national party office. This article extends the period of analysis to 2008 and 2011. Although concerns were not unfounded, data reported in this article reveal that horizontal linkages developed between constituency associations in the Conservative Party of Canada, instead of downward money transfers from the national office. The article compares the Conservative party to its major competitors and explores three regional cases where these linkages are prevalent. Tobit regression is used to examine whether monetary transfers are coordinated by the central office or initiated by local constituency associations. Given weak evidence for the latter, the findings demonstrate that parties with a reliable base of support can leverage their campaign resources from one region into a national presence.

Résumé

Résumé

Les réformes des lois sur le financement des campagnes électorales au début du XXIe siècle ont fait craindre que les partis politiques canadiens ne deviennent plus centralisés, modifiant ainsi les dispositions stratarchiques entre les organisations locales et le bureau national du parti. Cet article prolonge la période d'analyse jusqu'en 2008 et 2011. Bien que les craintes ne soient pas infondées, les données rapportées dans cet article révèlent que des liens horizontaux se sont établis entre les associations de circonscription du Parti conservateur du Canada, en lieu et place de transferts d'argent régressifs provenant du bureau national. L'article compare les conservateurs à leurs principaux concurrents et explore trois cas régionaux où ces liens sont fréquents. Le modèle de régression tobit est utilisé pour examiner si les transferts monétaires sont coordonnés par le bureau central ou initiés par les associations de circonscription locales. Dans ce dernier cas, les résultats montrent que les partis disposant d'une base de soutien fiable peuvent se prévaloir de leurs ressources de campagne d'une région pour assurer une présence nationale.

Keywords

political partiesstratarchyparty financingelectoral geographyconstituency campaigningpartis politiquesstratarchiefinancement des partisgéographie électoralecirconscriptioncampagnes
Type
Research Article/Étude originale
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , September 2020 , pp. 618 - 637
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2020

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