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    Canadian Political Science Association
    2020 Annual Conference Programme

    Confronting Political Divides
    Hosted at Western University
    Tuesday, June 2 to Thursday, June 4, 2020
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    Presidential Address:
    Barbara Arneil, CPSA President

    Origins:
    Colonies and Statistics

    Location:
    Tuesday, June 2, 2020 | 05:00pm to 06:00pm
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    KEYNOTE SPEAKER:
    Ayelet Shachar
    The Shifting Border:
    Legal Cartographies of Migration
    and Mobility

    Location:
    June 04, 2020 | 01:30 to 03:00 pm
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    Keynote Speaker: Marc Hetherington
    Why Modern Elections
    Feel Like a Matter of
    Life and Death

    Location:
    Wednesday, June 3, 2020 | 03:45pm to 05:15pm
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    Plenary Panel
    Indigenous Politics and
    the Problem of Canadian
    Political Science

    Location: Arts & Humanities Building - AHB 1R40
    Tuesday, June 2, 2020 | 10:30am to 12:00pm

Canadian Politics



A12(b) - Memes, Trolls, Digital Division and Populism during the 2019 Canadian Federal Election Digital Ecology Research Challenge Panel 1

Date: Jun 3 | Time: 02:00pm to 03:30pm | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Mireille Lalancette (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Vincent Raynauld (Emerson College (Boston))

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Tania Gosselin (Université du Québec à Montréal)


Session Abstract: This first panel will present some of the studies realized as part of the Digital Ecology Research Challenge. The project is a collaborative effort which aims to support research and innovative exploration into the ways in which digital media impact the 2019 Federal Election in Canada. Social media, online news, web, and survey data at a large scale were collected and used by the different researchers in order to answer their questions. This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada through a History Fund Grant. The project aimed at documenting different aspects of the election. The Digital Ecosystem Research Challenge is a collaborative effort which aims to support research and innovative exploration into the ways in which digital media impact the 2019 Federal Election in Canada. This panel will feature 4 selected and founded projects. Panelists will discuss issues related to internet memes, trolls, digital division and populism during the electoral campaign.


Les mèmes internet politiques comme outils de délégitimation : le cas de l’élection fédérale de 2019: Simon Fitzbay (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières), Mireille Lalancette (Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières)
Abstract: Les mèmes internet occupent une place considérable au sein de la culture populaire grâce médias socionumériques. Les mèmes ces «?[...] fragments de contenu digitaux disséminés rapidement sur le Web par le fruit de mouvements itératifs devenant ainsi des expériences culturelles partagées?» (Shifman, 2013, p. 18, notre traduction) sont également des outils discursifs porteur d’un message engagé. Ce papier présente les analyses des mèmes publiés sur les réseaux socionumériques (Facebook, Twitter, Reddit) pendant la campagne électorale fédérale de 2019. Ces mèmes ont été recueillis en grande partie par le Digital Ecology Project (projet F. McKelvey). En nous basant sur les travaux de Ross et Rivers (2017) et de la position épistémologique de Wiggins (2019), nous illustrerons comment les mèmes sont utilisés pour délégitimer un politicien ou le discours que celui-ci emploie. Plus spécifiquement, nous aborderons les stratégies de délégitimation en lien avec l’autorité, l’évaluation morale et la rationalisation. Notre étude porte principalement sur les mèmes qui commentent l’image et le discours des chefs des partis politiques en visant leur intégrité, la plateforme de leur parti, leurs croyances personnelles ou leurs prises de position. Alors que plusieurs, dont les journalistes des médias traditionnels, se questionnent à propos de l’influence que peuvent avoir les mèmes en tant que message politique non réglementé, notre travail offre un regard analytique sur un objet peu exploré jusqu’à maintenant au Canada. Finalement, il lève le voile sur comment les évaluations des leaders s’élaborent grâce aux mèmes politiques.


Partisanship and Political Memes in 2019 Canadian Federal Election: Fenwick McKelvey (Concordia University), Jeremy Blackburn (Binghamton University)
Abstract: Flex tape promises to “repair virtually anything” including Trudeau’s broken promises if Canadian partisans are to be believed. The popular image caption meme was a metaphor used on the left and right during the 2019 Federal Election. By labelling an image of Flex Tape patching a big hole, partisans criticized hasty Liberal campaign promises that failed to address deeper problems. Flex Tape was a metaphor. ‘Strategic voting’ patched ‘four years of broken promises’. And Liberals had their own replies with ‘SNC Lavalin’ being a trick used by Scheer to patch the ‘Legacy of the Harper government’. The flex tape meme was common to a few Facebook groups, but more often partisans had their own online image vernaculars, distinct subcultures of memes. In this presentation, we analyze memes to identify visual practices of partisanship in Canada. We provide one of the first studies of the relationship between partisanship and visual political communication in Canada. Memes, or self-referential images shared online, are an increasingly important form of expression and we suspect a way to share partisan values. Our paper draws on a four-week study of the Canadian Federal Election that sampled Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit and 4chan using a combination of automated and manual data collection methods. Through content analysis and image clustering, we identify shared memes, common colours and other brand choices as well as issues and frames shared by Liberal, the Conservative, New Democrat partisans as well as new political movements online.


Trolls on the Campaign Trail: How Candidates Experience and Respond to Online Abuse: Chris Tenove (University of British Columbia), Trevor Deley (University of Ottawa), Grace Lore (University of Victoria)
Abstract: Electoral candidates use social media platforms to persuade, mobilize, and fundraise. Along with positive interactions, they often face harassment, intimidation, hate speech, and other forms of abusive messaging. This paper will summarize a multi-method study of negative messaging in the 2019 federal election in Canada. We develop and use a machine learning model to identify all uncivil, insulting, and threatening/hateful tweets directed at candidates during the formal election campaign, and analyze the quantity and form of negative messages directed at candidates, paying particular attention to potentially different experiences for women and racialized candidates. Our study also draws on in-depth interviews with over 20 candidates and communication staff, to determine how campaign teams respond to different types of problematic messages on different social media platforms, and how negative messaging online affect campaign strategies. Preliminary results of the study have found that political parties struggled to offer candidates the technical and social support needed when candidates face storms of negative messaging. This study will help address fundamental questions about how negative or abusive messaging shape political participation and campaign strategies in Canada.


Digital Divisions: The 2019 Canadian Federal Election, Western Alienation and the Anatomy of #wexit: Asif Hameed (Carleton University), Stephen White (Carleton University)
Abstract: On October 21, 2019 the Liberal Party of Canada successfully navigated an election campaign trail littered with controversy and scandal to ensure Justin Trudeau a second term as the Prime Minister of Canada. Hardly mirroring the vaunted level of support the party enjoyed in 2015, their 2019 minority electoral victory reflected deep divisions in the Canadian electoral landscape, both in terms of ideology and region. Almost overnight following Election Day these divisions would manifest themselves in the form of the Wexit movement on social media – an apparent call for the secession of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and parts of British Columbia from the Canadian federation. Echoing the ideology and discontents of similar ‘movements’ - from #albexit and Yellow Vests Canada to the On-To-Ottawa trek of 1935 - Wexit is the most recent manifestation of a deep divide in Canadian social and political culture, and one largely cultivated within the realm of social media. Using data provided by the Digital Ecosystem Research Challenge, the proposed paper is a content analysis of the emergence of Wexit in the days that followed the 2019 Canadian federal election. Focusing on tweets using the hashtag #wexit in the 30 day period following Election Day, this project seeks to illustrate the nature of the conversation surrounding Western alienation on Twitter in an attempt to understand the anatomy of the allegedly burgeoning call for separation in Western Canada, the rise of provincial populism and their impact on the Canadian federation at large.




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