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Entertainer or agent provocateur? The modern Canadian political cartoonist, historically speaking, possesses a split identity. The Gazette cartoonist Terry Mosher---a.k.a. Aislin---in his experience, career and involvement in the fall 1988 fight against free trade, illustrates the tension inherent in the identity of the modern Canadian political cartoonist. Mosher's experience offers a theory as to what circumstances might compel a cartoonist to break the cartoonist's compromise---an informal promise not to use their powerful platform to advance a coherent, systematic and specific political agenda or aim in exchange for editorial independence, journalistic "status," and proper financial remuneration---a state of affairs modern cartoonists are, under normal circumstances, happy to accept.

This thesis studies the discursive behaviour of Canadian federal political parties with regards to immigration and integration issues. It seeks to test the empirical acuity offered by brokerage and issue ownership theories to explain the parties' electoral strategies in these domains. It examines the evolution of partisan discourse in relation to these themes over time, with special attention paid to the merger of right parties. It also studies the impact of certain real-world events, such as the referendum on Quebec secession in 1995 and the terrorist attacks of September 2001, on party positions. It thus proposes a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of five major parties' discourse, focusing on the various positions held by each of them on the issues of immigration and integration in their respective 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2004 election platforms.

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The findings of this thesis are somewhat at variance with the literature on Canadian public policy. The literature tends to accord primary importance in the federal policy-making process to forces such as political parties, bureaucratic groups, pressure groups, and the provinces. This study demonstrates that the political leadership of an individual cabinet minister and, subsequently, the political leadership of the government as a whole were of primary importance in the development of unemployment insurance policy in the 1970's. The policy interests of political leadership took precedence over those of other forces in the policy-making process. Moreover, the input of other forces with the exception of political parties, was negligible. Political leadership required the support of sympathizers within the major political parties to exercise leadership functions of surveillance and legitimation. / Bryce Mackasey, who introduced a new program in 1971, carried out these leadership functions so effectively that he became an agent of policy reform. Mackasey exercised surveillance over the policy-making activities of his public servants and legitimized the scheme to opponents within the major political parties, other bureaucratic groups, and the provinces. However, during the amending process, the government as a whole was not required to exercise surveillance but it successfully legitimized its policy interests to the same forces.

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Aboriginal governments are organizations like any other, but they have some important differences that stem from the cultures of aboriginal peoples and the history and construction of aboriginal governments in Canada. Colonization brought particular conceptions of work and administration that are not always compatible with aboriginal cultures. Aboriginal governments are grounded in their respective communities and cultures and at the same time exist within a Canadian political system that reflects the values of a western, non-aboriginal society. The practice of administrative work in aboriginal governments is therefore complex and internally conflictual for the organization as well as for administrators. The institutional and financial arrangements of aboriginal governments in Canada only further complicate the work. Understanding the distinctiveness of administrative work in aboriginal governments is important for both aboriginal and non-aboriginal governments and administrators as a new relationship between Canadian and aboriginal governments is forged. This study explores the work of aboriginal administrators working in aboriginal governments. It considers the administrative environment of aboriginal government, particularly the complexities of accountability and the interrelatedness of culture, politics and administration. It suggests that aboriginal governments are expressions of the cultures, politics, spirituality, economics, values and emotions of aboriginal peoples. These governments are social movements as well as ruling bureaucracies. Government in this context is a complex and holistic notion as it does not necessarily separate church from state, politics from bureaucracy, or the personal from the professional. Within this context, the study examines the actual work of particular administrators and thereby develops a distinct picture of administration as it is practised in aboriginal governments. While such administrative practice is found to be more holistic in this context, the study further suggests that the construction of the actual work is influenced by key factors of accountability demands, cultural relevance and integrity, and the need for education of all people engaged with issues of governance. Given the dilemmas found in each of these factors, aboriginal administrators face the unique challenge of integrating the discordant demands of their communities, organizations and professions. / Graduate

This thesis marks the first attempt to systematically study Canadian minor parties. Minor parties, as distinct from third parties, are those that acquire less than 5 percent of the national vote (usually much less than one percent) and have never sent an MP to Ottawa. We know little about parties as a group except that their numbers have steadily proliferated over the last 20 years and that this growth shows no signs of abating. The goal of this paper is fill the knowledge gap surrounding minor parties and to assess the health of electoral democracy in Canada. Specifically, nine minor parties are studied through the experiences of their candidates during the 1993 federal election. The findings presented are based on data collected from government sources and on surveys and interviews administered to a sample of minor party candidates who ran in the greater Vancouver area. The dissemination of political beliefs not represented in mainstream politics was the dominant reason candidates gave for participating in elections. Winning is a long term ambition, but not expected in the short run for the majority of parties. Despite their modest aims, minor parties and candidates are unduly fettered in their ability to effectively compete in elections and communicate with the public. Minor party campaigns typically have scant political resources, including money, time and workers; electoral laws — concerning registration thresholds, broadcasting time allotments and campaign reimbursements — designed to promote fairness, disadvantage the system's weakest players; and subtle biases on the part of the press, debate organizers and potential donors close important channels of communication. Of these factors, money emerged as the most important, with media exposure — or the lack of it — a close second in terms of determining a party's competitiveness. The National Party, with superior resources, was often an exception to the above characterization, but ultimately, media neglect sealed its fate as a marginal party. Notwithstanding the great odds facing minor parties, winning is not impossible given the right alignment of factors. The Reform Party did it in 1993, providing other small parties with hope and an example to follow. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This thesis was undertaken with the intention of filling four serious gaps in the vast amount of writing that has been done on the interpretation of the British North America Act by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. First of all, an effort has been made to examine all the decisions handed down by the Board, then to analyse these decisions so as to obtain an understanding of the basic principles established, and lastly to summarise these principles into a coherent picture of the way in which the Constitution of Canada has been shaped, and of the manner In which Canadian constitutional problems of today must be viewed. Secondly, a similar attempt has been made regarding the arguments which the Judicial Committee's interpretation has produced, these arguments likewise being thoroughly examined, analysed into basic components, and summarised into a coherent pattern. Thirdly, one particular point of view, badly neglected in the past, has been given special attention. Finally, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on the bibliography, where the intention Is not only to bring together all the major references on this subject, but also to bring these references together in such a way as to Indicate their general character and relative importance. The body of the thesis is divided into seven chapters. Chapter I deals with governmental forms in general and the federal form in particular, the conclusion being reached that the distinguishing feature of a federation is a distribution of legislative powers between coordinate authorities. An analysis of the Judicial Committee's interpretation of Sections 91 and 92 of the British North America Act is then carried out in Chapter II; two fundamental problems are isolated--the problem of residuary powers and the problem of leaky compartments--and the Judicial Committee's solution to them is discovered in the "three-compartment scheme" and the "Aspect,” "Ancillary Powers," "Cooperation," and "Unoccupied Field" doctrines. Two problems requiring special solutions are examined in Chapter III, where it is found that Section 91, subsection 2 and Section 132 have both been severely restricted in scope. Chapter IV contains a legal or textual evaluation of the Judicial Committee's interpretation, and the opinion is given that if the concluding words of Section 91 are a poor support for the "three-compartment scheme," the introductory words prove that the Judicial Committee's interpretation is legally correct. Three different historical arguments are looked into next, after which Chapter V concludes with a negative answer to the question underlying these arguments: has historical reasoning any connexion with statutory Interpretation in the first place? The purpose of Chapter VI being to determine the practical effects of the Judicial Committee's interpretation, an examination is made of the resulting difficulties; it is decided that before any change is contemplated the admittedly unfortunate consequences must be balanced against the necessity of maintaining Canadian unity—and hence of respecting the French-Canadian attitude regarding provincial autonomy. Finally, in Chapter VII a try is made at summarising the main points of the preceding chapters, and a number of recommendations are then offered with one eye on the present and the other on the future. The thesis concludes with an analytical bibliography and an appendix containing a copy of sections 91 and 92 of the British North America Act, 1867. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

The historians characterizing Lower Canada's thought in the period before 1815 have argued that it was principally nationalist. French Canadians, moreover, were assessed either as clinging to the values and precepts of a feudal past or as adopting advanced republican ideas. In neither case, however, was attention paid to the articulation by French Lower Canadians of a system of thought that reflected the complex reality of the society in which they lived. This thesis attempts to recreate the system of thought using the public writings of the most politically active members of the community. It analyses the various intellectual influences on the colony and the unique mixture arrived at by the commentators who were affected by them. Having, it argues, combined elements of thinking drawn from the old regime, the Enlightenment and British writers and statesmen, French Canadians devised an idea of community which reflected their society's bicultural and bilingual nature and articulated the nature of the participation of its members in their newly acquired parliamentary institutions. Far, then, from being dissaffected with the existing structures or showing a desire for independence, they comprised an active and politically aware population which viewed its future as intimately tied to the Constitution and to the British Empire. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate