This Master’s Thesis compares the dynamics of intergovernmental relations (IGR) in Canada and Australia. In particular, the study explores how two such similar countries have developed such distinct sets of intergovernmental institutions. In Australia, the Commonwealth has increasingly dominated IGR since the 1930s, a process which culminated with the creation of the Council of Australian Government, a “vertical” (Commonwealth-state) institution. In Canada, federal-provincial-territorial relations have been far less institutionalized. Instead, “horizontal” (provincial-territorial) relations have evolved slowly into the Council of the Federation, the most regularized forum for IGR in Canadian history. By examining the historical development of federalism more generally and IGR specifically, this study uncovers a mutually-reinforcing relationship between centralization and the verticality of IGR in Australia, and a corresponding bond between decentralization and horizontality in Canada. Based on original interviews with key intergovernmental officials in each country, the study attributes these relationships to a number of factors, including the presence of multi-nationalism, the strength of intrastate federalism, the nature of judicial interpretation, the structure of fiscal federalism, and the personal style of political figures. The thesis concludes that verticality in Canada and horizontality in Australia are functions of the same factors which made one decentralized and the other centralized, and that institutions of IGR are both cause and effect of the prevailing dynamic in either federation.

On November 28, 2017, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau apologized to LGBTQ2+ persons within Canada for the oppression and criminalization of queer sexuality and diverse gender identities. Between the 1950s to early 1990s, thousands of Canadian civil servants and military personnel were systematically surveilled, interrogated, and ultimately “purged” because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The federal government’s heterosexism criminalized queer bodies and sex and it enforced heteronormativity and cisnormativity. These policies had disastrous effects on trans and queer persons and have contributed to ongoing systemic discrimination against LGBTQ2+ persons today. The 2017 apology and the associated process of redress have the potential to reconstitute the relationship between LGBTQ2+ communities and the government. Through an analysis of the apology’s affective and effective outcomes, this case study seeks to understand the origins, complexities, and implications of the apology for LGBTQ2+ equality and inclusion. It invokes Melissa Nobles’ membership theory to better understand the apology’s implications for LGBTQ2+ citizenship in Canada. Specifically, it is interested in better understanding the voices that were included in the pre-apology consultation process, and those that were not. Given the inherent diversity of LGBTQ2+ communities, such an effort had major implications for both the inclusivity of the apology and its ability to remedy past injustices. It finds that the consultations undertaken by the government were rushed, lacked transparency and openness, and consequently undermined the ameliorative potential of the apology. It then turns to an assessment of the apology’s “authenticity” through an invocation of political scientist Matt James’ criteria, and posits that the 2017 apology is best categorized as a robust quasi-apology. This thesis then considers the reactions of LGBTQ2+ persons to the apology itself and finds that the apology may serve as a rhetorical tool, which can be taken up by activists to demand additional reform. Further, to have lasting significance the apology must be substantiated by real action. To contextualize the apology’s equality effects, this thesis also engages in an analysis of the government’s substantive policy undertakings and failures in the post-apology period. This thesis asserts that while the government has moved forward with some significant reforms, its post-apology policy approach is characterized by profound shortcomings that have fallen short of the broad-based reforms demanded by LGBTQ2+ activists. These government failures evidence the continued predominance of what Miriam Smith terms “legal homophobia,” and the restrictive model of renegotiated citizenship proffered by the government. The citizenship lens invoked throughout this project leads to the theorization that there are two primary LGBTQ2+ factions with regard to the apology: one that seeks integration within the state and demands Canadian citizenship in spite of queerness and another that rejects the state’s homonationalist project and agitates for a Queered citizenship situated within an anti-oppressive, anti-racist framework. This thesis concludes by suggesting that the official apology can be used as a rhetorical tool to pursue the very Queered citizenship some activists desire. / Graduate

This dissertation argues that the Alberta Progressive Conservative organization constructed a rural political monopoly that facilitated a general provincial political monopoly. It will argue that rural Alberta was vital for the rise of the Progressive Conservatives and accounted for much of its success over the subsequent twenty-five years. The argument also challenges the theories of ‘responsible party government’ that have traditionally explained the perpetuation of the quasi-party system and tradition of one-party dominance in Alberta. It argues that a more comparative approach, specifically the thesis of democratic quality, be integrated into this field of study. The employment of democratic quality biases and the consolidation of economic power in rural Alberta contributed heavily to Conservative political success between 1971 and 1996. Over this period, the Conservatives perpetuated a system of electoral malapportionment that overrepresented rural constituencies and underrepresented urban ridings. At the same time the Conservatives actively challenged independent rural/agrarian civil society organizations and any policy contrary to the party’s political interests. Alberta’s once considerable independent rural and agrarian lobby is today predominantly mediated by their position within or in relation to the Progressive Conservative Association. The decline of general farm organizations (GFOs) and agrarian civil society organizations, facilitated in part by government complicity and a changing agricultural economy, resulted in a ‘political monopoly’ in rural areas. During this period malapportionment underpinned a general political monopoly with rural overrepresentation shoring up collapses of urban support (i.e. Edmonton) in the 1980s and 1990s. This work will provide evidence of participation, competition and other democratic quality biases through a construction of this theoretical framework in terms of a broader comparative perspective based on the evaluation of ‘democratic quality’.

This study examines how race affects the media’s coverage of candidates in Canadian politics. Situated in the literature on political communication, gendered mediation and race studies, it proposes a new theory of racial mediation, which posits that politics are covered in ways that reflect the assumption of whiteness as standard. Although candidate self-presentation does influence media portrayals, this alone does not account for differences in the framing of candidates’ policy interests, viability and socio-demographic characteristics. The project argues that candidate race has a significant but subtle impact on media portrayals. Articles from the print media coverage of the 2008 Canadian election are analyzed using a hand-coded content analysis, which is replicated through an innovative automated approach. The study finds that visible minority candidates’ coverage is more negative and less prominent than that of their White counterparts. It is less likely to focus on key electoral issues and much more likely to emphasize socio-demographic background. Visible minority candidates are held to a higher standard and in the absence of evidence to the contrary, they are portrayed as less viable and credible than their competitors. Gender can amplify these effects, with raced and gendered discourses characterizing the coverage of visible minority women. The media study is complemented by 40 elite interviews that probe candidates’ communication strategies, issue emphasis and self-presentation, as well as reporters’ negotiation of these elements in their construction of news stories. While there are visible minority candidates who emphasize elements of their ethnocultural heritage, my findings suggest that few rely only on racialized strategies, nor are White candidates immune from racialized appeals. Nonetheless, journalists struggle to adequately portray nuance and candidates’ multi-dimensionality. They employ familiar narratives and tropes, and generally only seize on racialized framing when it applies to visible minority candidates. Although the study does not provide a direct test of media effects on vote choice, it draws on existing literature to argue that because media coverage influences the ways that voters evaluate issues and develop schema for understanding the world around them, the portrayal of visible minority candidates has the potential to alter electoral opportunities and outcomes. As a result, racialized coverage and race continue to matter in Canadian politics. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-04-22 15:21:07.585

This dissertation investigates social conservative activism in the American Republican Party and in four parties of the Canadian right: the Progressive Conservative Party, Reform Party, Canadian Alliance Party, and Conservative Party of Canada. While issues like gay and lesbian rights and abortion became politically contentious in both countries during the late 1960s, American social conservatives emerged earlier than their Canadian counterparts and enjoyed considerably more success. Understanding this contrast explains an important part of the difference between Canadian and American politics and explicates a key aspect of modern conservatism in North America. The argument developed here focuses on different norms about the boundary of politics held in right-wing parties in the two countries. Norms are embedded components of institutions that codify the “logic of appropriateness” for actors within a given institution (March and Olsen 1989, 160) and both construct and regulate the identities of political actors (Katzentstein 1996). The recognition of norms has been an important development in organizational theory, but one that has never been applied to modern office-seeking parties (Ware 1996, Berman 1998). Qualitative case studies establish that many Republicans understood both sexuality and appeals to religion as politically legitimate throughout the period under investigation. In Canada, alternatively, Progressive Conservatives saw such questions as being inappropriate grounds for political activity. This norm restricted social conservative mobilization in the party. It was only when the Reform Party upset both the institutions and ideology of Canadian conservatism that social conservatives began to gain prominence in Canadian politics. Since then, the success of Canadian social conservatives has been limited by Canada’s political culture and institutions but they are now, as their American counterparts have long been, consistently recognized by other Canadian conservatives as partners in the conservative coalition.

This dissertation investigates social conservative activism in the American Republican Party and in four parties of the Canadian right: the Progressive Conservative Party, Reform Party, Canadian Alliance Party, and Conservative Party of Canada. While issues like gay and lesbian rights and abortion became politically contentious in both countries during the late 1960s, American social conservatives emerged earlier than their Canadian counterparts and enjoyed considerably more success. Understanding this contrast explains an important part of the difference between Canadian and American politics and explicates a key aspect of modern conservatism in North America. The argument developed here focuses on different norms about the boundary of politics held in right-wing parties in the two countries. Norms are embedded components of institutions that codify the “logic of appropriateness” for actors within a given institution (March and Olsen 1989, 160) and both construct and regulate the identities of political actors (Katzentstein 1996). The recognition of norms has been an important development in organizational theory, but one that has never been applied to modern office-seeking parties (Ware 1996, Berman 1998). Qualitative case studies establish that many Republicans understood both sexuality and appeals to religion as politically legitimate throughout the period under investigation. In Canada, alternatively, Progressive Conservatives saw such questions as being inappropriate grounds for political activity. This norm restricted social conservative mobilization in the party. It was only when the Reform Party upset both the institutions and ideology of Canadian conservatism that social conservatives began to gain prominence in Canadian politics. Since then, the success of Canadian social conservatives has been limited by Canada’s political culture and institutions but they are now, as their American counterparts have long been, consistently recognized by other Canadian conservatives as partners in the conservative coalition.

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This thesis seeks to explore the idea of Indigenous participation in Canada’s federal electoral system and whether such involvement can wield positive change to the Canadian/Indigenous relationship. The analysis presented throughout this thesis highlights the development of a tarnished Canadian/Indigenous relationship as well as the debate surrounding the belonging of Indigenous peoples in relation to the Canadian state and their own Indigenous nations. Additionally, this thesis demonstrates that Indigenous peoples voting in Canada’s electoral system do not hinder Indigenous sovereignty, but may heighten its recognition instead, as well as how participation in Canada’s political system may wield influence by Indigenous peoples over Canada’s elected officials. Although potential for Indigenous influence within Canada’s electoral process exists, further research is needed to delve into the subject matter at a deeper level.

This thesis seeks to explore the idea of Indigenous participation in Canada’s federal electoral system and whether such involvement can wield positive change to the Canadian/Indigenous relationship. The analysis presented throughout this thesis highlights the development of a tarnished Canadian/Indigenous relationship as well as the debate surrounding the belonging of Indigenous peoples in relation to the Canadian state and their own Indigenous nations. Additionally, this thesis demonstrates that Indigenous peoples voting in Canada’s electoral system do not hinder Indigenous sovereignty, but may heighten its recognition instead, as well as how participation in Canada’s political system may wield influence by Indigenous peoples over Canada’s elected officials. Although potential for Indigenous influence within Canada’s electoral process exists, further research is needed to delve into the subject matter at a deeper level.