Abstract: "On January 26, 2013 Kathleen Wynne became the leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario and the first woman premier of the province. The race was unique in Canadian politics in that the two of the three front runners were female. Previous research on media and federal politics have shown that the media tend to marginalize women candidates. In the Ontario Leadership race, there was a second potential area of marginalization: sexual orientation. Two of the candidates were openly homosexual. To test the gender mediation theory on the race, this paper examines newspaper, television, and CBC websites for the leadership campaign. The coverage will be assessed by the two broad categories of quantity and quality. Quantity will be measured by the number of stories each candidate was reported in, how prominent they were in the story (e.g. first mentioned), as well as the length of the story and how much time they were able to speak for themselves. Visibility is additionally measured by where in the newscast or newspaper the story appeared.

Quality of news coverage focuses on four categories:
1. Personal characteristics — appearance, traits, behaviours, roles
2. Professional characteristics – credentials, professional background, political experience
3. Viability – electability, horse race frames, opinion polls
4. Issues and position – the type of issues the candidates are associated with."



Paper / Communication

Abstract: In 2014 Kathleen Wynne made history when she was elected as Canada’s first openly gay premier. Her competitors in the election were Tim Hudak, leader of the Progressive Conservative party and Andrea Horwath, leader of the NDP. All three leaders were relatively well known and had been in politics for several years – Hudak and Horwath as their parties’ leaders and Wynne as a high profile cabinet minister before becoming premier in early 2013. As a result, this election and the data gathered around it provide an excellent opportunity to explore the role that gender, and more importantly sexual orientation, play in voters’ leadership evaluations. Using data from the Comparative Provincial Election Project 2014 Ontario Election Study we focus not only on traditional gender based stereotypes frequently identified in studies of female political leaders, but also on stereotypes linked to sexual orientation, including perceptions of how well the party leaders could speak for gays and lesbians. Furthermore, we explore the degree to which any stereotypes that do appear are shared by different segments of the electorate including: male and female voters, those with higher levels of education and political knowledge, those who hold more traditional moral values, and those who pay a high level of attention to the election.

Abstract: We build upon our original 2006 study of the LGBT electorate. At the time, the same-sex marriage issue ranked quite prominently in Canadian politics. LGBT voters showed little support for the Conservative party, and it’s general opposition to same-sex marriage. Upon assuming office, the Conservatives have not made any attempt to repeal those rights, which leads us to ask whether the LGBT vote and its clear anti-Conservative position of 2006 remains an enduring trait. We will study the voting behaviour and other attitudinal orientations of this electorate over the 2006 to 2015 elections. Most analysis will rely upon Ipsos Reid’s Election Day “exit polls,” which typically draw more than 30,000 respondents, including more than 1000 self-identified members of the LGBT community.

Abstract: Mediatisation is an important component of the citizens’ relationship to politics and political actors. More specifically, the mediatisation of women in politics has been the object of several studies in Canada and elsewhere. Few studies have focused on the mediatisation of LGBT candidates, aside from Allison Brewer’s press coverage study by Everitt and Camp (2009). In their analysis, they showed that stereotypical frames were used when discussing her candidacy as future leader of the New Democratic Party of New Brunswick. She was systematically presented as the lesbian, activist woman in politics. It raised the questions of whether lesbians in politics face a double discrimination as women and as lesbians, and whether their media treatment as lesbians is different from that of gays in politics. Since, news frames are shaping the perceptions of candidates, a positive or negative evaluation of LGBT candidates could affect their willingness to run and/or consider a political career. In order to better understand the mediatisation of LGBT candidates, we will conduct a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of portraits presented in major newspapers (La Presse, Le Devoir, The Guardian, The Globe and Mail, The National Post) and magazines (L’actualité, Macleans) about three politicians during the following leadership races and electoral campaigns: André Boisclair (Parti québécois 2005), Kathleen Wynne (Ontario Liberal Party 2013), and Wade MacLauclan (Prince Edward Island Liberal Party 2014). Our analysis will focus on intersectional stereotypes taking into account both gender and sexual identity as lesbians or gays.