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The Regional Decline of a National Party : Liberals on the Prairies / David E. Smith.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: HeritagePublisher: Toronto : University of Toronto Press, [1981]Copyright date: ©1981Description: 1 online resource (208 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780802064301
  • 9781487574871
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 324.27106 19
LOC classification:
  • JL197.L5 S63 1981eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Summary: During the past twenty years, the Liberal party has shown a marked failure to hold a place in the hearts and minds of the voters of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Professor Smith here argues convincingly that the party is largely the author of its own downfall through insensitivity to regional concerns and ignorance of the implications of its centralizing tendencies. Smith views the reforms which helped restore the Liberals to federal power after defeat in 1957 as a primary cause of the party's continuing poor electoral performance in the region. He chronicles that shift from a political structure dominated by strong provincial spokesmen like Gardner and Garson to the reorganized federal Liberal party, which emphasizes control from national headquarters and favours a more scientific approach, relying on opinion polls, ad agencies, and campaign colleges for candidates. The result has been a decline in voter support and a lack of regional participation in party councils - and the adoption by the party of policies unacceptable to the West. The west thus has come to perceive the Liberal party as dominated by eastern Canada and preoccupied with the problem of Quebec separatism. The consequences have become increasingly evident at election times.
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eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781487574871

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http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

During the past twenty years, the Liberal party has shown a marked failure to hold a place in the hearts and minds of the voters of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. Professor Smith here argues convincingly that the party is largely the author of its own downfall through insensitivity to regional concerns and ignorance of the implications of its centralizing tendencies. Smith views the reforms which helped restore the Liberals to federal power after defeat in 1957 as a primary cause of the party's continuing poor electoral performance in the region. He chronicles that shift from a political structure dominated by strong provincial spokesmen like Gardner and Garson to the reorganized federal Liberal party, which emphasizes control from national headquarters and favours a more scientific approach, relying on opinion polls, ad agencies, and campaign colleges for candidates. The result has been a decline in voter support and a lack of regional participation in party councils - and the adoption by the party of policies unacceptable to the West. The west thus has come to perceive the Liberal party as dominated by eastern Canada and preoccupied with the problem of Quebec separatism. The consequences have become increasingly evident at election times.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 01. Nov 2023)