Party Systems of Canada

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Canadian politics has a tendency to be defined by the respective political parties and the different patterns of the party's competition. Carty et. al says, in order to make sense of Canada, you must first make sense of its party politics. At the same time, though, Jane Jenson and her colleague Janine Brodie have stated that the political parties are known to be the main actors when it comes to Canadian politics. Of course, there is some sort of doubt that these political parties of Canada run a central role when it comes to discourse. Therefore, the only way to have a better understanding of present-day Canadian politics, it is necessary to look towards Canada’s political systems of parties, the definition and structure of it, how each party system grew over the years, as well as its functions for the answers that could possibly be valid to this. This paper will seek to discuss the historical aspect of the Party Systems of Canada. Moreover, explain how each one of the five parties functioned, how they sought to serve Canada to get Canadians to vote. It will go into deep detail about the parties to get a clear understand of what was going on within Canadian politics when it comes to the Party Systems as well as its structure. This paper asserts that the political realm of Canada went through a major transition in the beginning of 2003 and the rise of a new period of Canadian politics which is the fifth party system. When looking at and understanding the historical aspect of the party systems, it is important to note that there are some number of definitions of party systems. To some degree, a party system simply can be defined as the competition between parties in the political realm in efforts to gain the support for their give... ... middle of paper ... ...-line at: http://www.liberal.ca/familypack (accessed on 11 November 2013). New Democratic Party. Jack Layton and the New Democrats: A Prime Minister on Your Family's Side, for a change. New Democratic Party, 2008. Small, Tamara A. “The Facebook Effect: Online Campaigning in the 2008 Canadian and US Elections.” Policy Options (October 2008): 85-87. Whitaker, Reg. The Government Party: Organizing and Financing the Liberal Party of Canada, 1958-1980. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1977. Whitaker, Reg. “Virtual Political Parties and the Decline of Democracy.” Policy Options (June 2001): 16-22. Young, Lisa, Anthony Sayers, and Harold Jansen. “Altering the Political Landscape: State Funding and Party Finance.” Canadian Parties in Transition, 3rd edition, eds. Alain-G. Gagnon and A. Brian Tanguay. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2007: 335-54.

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