Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Parliament and Its Members: Representation and Governance -- 2 The Electoral Connection and Legislative Behaviour in Canada -- 3 Legislation in the House: Private Members' Business -- 4 Private Members' Business: Participation and Motivation -- 5 Constituency Interests and Private Members' Business -- 6 The Nation's Interests, the Party's Interests, or the MP's Interests? -- 7 Does It Matter? Do Members of Parliament Influence Policy? -- 8 Conclusion: Individual Autonomy and Representation -- Appendix 1: Member of Parliament Face-to-Face Interviews (November-December 2006) -- Appendix 2: Step-by-Step Process of Private Members' Business -- Appendix 3: Private Members' Bill and Motions Introduced during the 28th to 38th Parliaments, by Topic -- Appendix 4: Construction of the Dataset and Explanation of Analyses -- Notes -- References -- Index.

This article explores concerns regarding media ownership in Canada from a "marketplace of ideas" perspective. It assesses evidence indicating whether the ideals associated with this perspective are threatened and proposes steps that seem best suited to achieving those broad ideals. It concludes that regulations limiting ownership levels by single corporations combined with relaxed foreign ownership controls would likely increase the range of choice and diversity of content in the news media. The latter, it also suggests, would allow regulators to more effectively enforce the ownership guidelines already in place for maintaining a vibrant and competitive media market.

Abstract.Health care has arguably been the most important issue in Canadian politics in the past decade. This paper focuses on the extent to which the media affect public perceptions of "the way things are" in the Canadian health care system. Individual perceptions of the state of health care are analyzed as being a function of personal experience with the system, loyalty or pre-formed opinions and the information that the individual receives through the media. Results indicate that media use has a significant effect on the likelihood of negative perceptions regarding the state of health care.Résumé.Le système de soins de santé représente sans doute le thème dominant de la dernière décennie sur la scène politique canadienne. Cet article examine l'influence exercée par les médias sur les perceptions du public concernant «la situation courante» du système de soins de santé canadien. L'analyse présente les perceptions individuelles sur l'état du système comme étant le reflet de l'expérience personnelle, d'une loyauté ou d'une opinion préétablie et de l'information transmise par les médias. Les résultats indiquent que les médias ont une incidence importante sur d'éventuelles perceptions négatives concernant l'état du système de soins de santé.

Health care has arguably been the most important issue in Canadian politics in the past decade. This paper focuses on the extent to which the media affect public perceptions of "the way things are" in the Canadian health care system. Individual perceptions of the state of health care are analyzed as being a function of personal experience with the system, loyalty or pre-formed opinions and the information that the individual receives through the media. Results indicate that media use has a significant effect on the likelihood of negative perceptions regarding the state of health care.

We studied the concept of political representation by observing elected representatives (Canadian Members of Parliament) while they spent time within their electoral constituencies. Employing a moderate participant observation methodology, we focused upon the manner in which MPs build various representational connections with their constituents, and sought to explain differences in the types of representative styles MPs develop. Key elements of this research included establishing a clear research question, selecting an effective process for recruiting participants that were roughly representative of the population, executing the data collection, and effectively disseminating the results of this research. Through observing 11 different MPs from across the country, we learned a great deal about the importance of maximizing time for data collection while keeping ourselves open to new insights into what we were observing. We detected possible problems with reactivity related to our presence and interactions, but also saw the importance of passive participation for fitting in and best understanding the behavior of research subjects. Participation also allowed for substantial discussion with our participants when opportunity allowed. We took extensive notes covering all observed behavior and subsequently collectively analyzed these for meaning to both derive categories of representative connections and further determine which behaviors filled those categories. This allowed for the refinement of theory as a means of explaining differences that were observed across MPs. Once we were able to use the observational data to the fullest extent possible, we then used qualitative interviews with participants to fill in gaps and gain specific explanations and insights.

The Canadian federal parliament is unique among Westminster parliamentary democracies due to the unusually high level of voluntary and involuntary MP turnover that occurs at each general election. This article builds on existing research to test the hypothesis that the MP career duration is related to MPs' expectations about parliamentary roles, insofar as voluntary turnover is concerned. Data on MPs drawn from historical records collected by the Library of Parliament and from surveys conducted in 1993 and 20011 are used to develop an event history model which estimates the hazard of voluntary career termination when different parliamentary roles are taken into consideration. Findings suggest that a number of individual factors play a role in voluntary turnover, most notably that MPs who enter Parliament hoping to affect policy are the most likely to move on.