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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



A21(b) - Roundtable: Author Meets Critics: Party Message Discipline in Canada

Date: Jun 4 | Time: 03:15pm to 04:45pm | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Susan Delacourt (Toronto Star)

Author Meets Critics: Party Message Discipline in Canada:

Alex Marland (Memorial University of Newfoundland)
Susan Delacourt (Toronto Star)

Abstract: This session involves a lively discussion about party discipline in Canada. The conversation is anchored by a forthcoming book authored by Alex Marland that presents the findings of 131 in-depth interviews with politicians and political staff across the country. Insights are shared about concealed institutions such as caucus meetings and the party whip, as well as tactics such as wedge politics, message boxes, social media shareables and vote sheets. Parliamentarians who wander off script or who purposely challenge the leader’s position in public are subject to a variety of disciplinary measures, causing some to question the nature of the political system itself. The book is a topical examination of party discipline in Canada, ranging from Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s extraordinary efforts to nurture caucus cohesion through to the SNC-Lavalin affair under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.




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