This article examines how political parties choose their candidates in Canada’s decentralized multilevel setting. We examine the selection practices of the leading federal parties, focusing on the formal and informal rules relating to the eligibility and mobilization of voters and candidates, the distribution of power within the party, and representational outcomes. In doing so, we highlight how Canadian parties have approached the trade-off between competing democratic norms as each party attempts to find a delicate balance between grassroots authority and central party involvement. Despite typically being considered a local affair, the selection of candidates is highly influenced by the central party apparatus—both formally and informally. This central party authority, however, often results in considerable tension that erupts in public conflict. We suggest that while centralization may undermine membership participation, grassroots autonomy, and responsiveness, central party involvement may also enhance the democratic values of fairness, representation, and in some instances even participation.
BilleL. (2001). Democratizing a democratic procedure: Myth or reality? Candidate selection in Western European parties 1960-1990. Party Politics, 7, 363-380.
3.
BlaisA.GidengilE.DobrzynskaA.NevitteN.NadeauR. (2003). Does the local candidate matter? Candidate effects in the Canadian election of 2000. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 36, 657-664.
CartyK. (2002). The politics of Tecumseh corners: Canadian political parties as franchise organizations. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 35, 723-745.
7.
CartyK. (2004). Parties as franchise systems: The stratarchical organizational imperative. Party Politics, 10, 15-24.
8.
CartyK.CrossW. (2006). Can stratarchically organized parties be democratic? The Canadian case. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 16, 93-114.
9.
CartyK.CrossW.YoungL. (2000). Rebuilding Canadian party politics. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: University of British Columbia Press.
10.
CartyK.EaglesM. (2005). Politics is local: National politics at the grassroots. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
CrossW. (2004). Political parties. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: University of British Columbia Press.
16.
CrossW. (2006). Candidate nomination in Canada’s political parties. In PammettJ.DornanC. (Eds.), The Canadian General Election of 2006 (pp. 171-195). Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Dundurn Press.
17.
CrossW. (2008). Democratic norms and party candidate selection: Taking contextual factors into account. Party Politics, 14, 596-619.
18.
CrossW. (2015a). Party membership in Canada. In van HauteE.GaujaA. (Eds.), Party members and activists (pp. 50-65). London, England: Routledge.
19.
CrossW. (2015b, August). Political parties as membership organizations: Challenges and explanations. Paper presented at the ECPR General Conference, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
20.
CrossW.BlaisA. (2012). Who selects the party leader?Party Politics, 18, 127-150.
21.
CrossW.GaujaA. (2014a). Designing candidate selection methods: Exploring diversity in Australian political parties. Australian Journal of Political Science, 49, 22-39.
22.
CrossW.GaujaA. (2014b). Evolving membership strategies in Australian political parties. Australian Journal of Political Science, 49, 611-625.
23.
CrossW.YoungL. (2013). Candidate recruitment in Canada: The role of political parties. In KoopR.BittnerA. (Eds.), Parties, elections, and the future of Canadian politics (pp. 24-45). Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: University of British Columbia Press.
24.
CrottyW. (1968). The party organization and its activities. In W. Crotty (Ed.), Approaches to the study of party organization (pp. 247-306). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
HazanR.RahatG. (2010). Democracy within parties: Candidate selection methods and their political consequences. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
KittilsonM. C.ScarrowS. E. (2003). Political parties and the rhetoric and realities of democratization. In CainB. E.DaltonR. J.ScarrowS. E. (Eds.), Democracy transformed? Expanding political opportunities in advanced industrial democracies (pp. 59-80). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.
32.
KoopR.BittnerA. (2011). Parachuted into parliament: Candidate nomination, appointed candidates, and legislative roles in Canada. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 21, 431-452.
33.
KrookM. L. (2010). Why are fewer women than men elected? Gender and the dynamics of candidate selection. Political Studies Review, 8, 155-168.
PattenS. (2010). Democracy and the candidate selection process in Canadian elections. In McIvorH. (Ed.), Election (pp. 135-154). Peterborough, Ontario, Canada: Emond Montgomery Press.
45.
PruysersS. (2014a). Canadian party politics in the 2000s: A re-examination of the regionalization thesis. Canadian Political Science Review, 8(1), 27-42.
46.
PruysersS. (2014b). Reconsidering vertical integration: An examination of national political parties and their counterparts in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 47, 237-258.
47.
SayersA. (1999). Parties, candidates, and constituency campaigns in Canadian elections. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: University of British Columbia Press.
48.
SiegfriedA. (1907/1966). The race question in Canada. London, England: Eveleigh.
49.
ThorlaksonL. (2009). Patterns of party integration, influence and autonomy in seven federations. Party Politics, 15, 157-177.
YoungL.CrossW. (2002). Incentives to membership in Canadian political parties. Political Research Quarterly, 55, 547-569.
54.
YoungL.JansenH. (2011). Money, politics and democracy: Canada’s party finance reforms. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: University of British Columbia Press.
