POLI 222: Introduction to Political Process and Behaviour in Canada

CRN 4505
Winter 2024
McGill University is on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee Nation and a place
which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst various Indigenous nations.

Logistics

If you are registered in the course, please go to the mycourses course page. Under the Content
tab, you will see a module titled “Syllabus and Logistics”. There you will find the
information on location, time, and teaching team details.

Students not yet registered in the class can find the location and scheduling details on
Minerva.

Professor: Christa Scholtz

Class communication: I will use the news feature on mycourses to make any announcements
to the class. Please sign up for notifications on mycourses. If you do not do so, you will only
receive the announcement when you log into mycourses, and not when I actually send it.

Course Description and Rationale

This is a large introductory course with a very wide profile of students. For some this will be
their first and only elective credit in political science. For some, this will be a course which
introduces them to a life-long love affair with Canadian politics (#joy). This course will
introduce you to some of the core questions in political science, and explore how Canadians
have addressed these questions in their political institutions, behaviours, and processes. We
examine how demands are formulated and conducted through the political system. We
scratch the surface of political culture and the role of ideas, interest group and social
movement activism, judicial behavior, electoral rules, political parties and partisan politics,
public opinion formation, and the bureaucracy and the policy process. I introduce you to
foundational writings in Canadian politics, while also encouraging you to tackle journal
articles which present more contemporary research in Canadian politics.

This is an introductory course, but that doesn’t mean it is an easy course. This is my
philosophy about introductory courses. The most important skill you will develop in this
course is how to read. You may wish to point out that you have figured out that bit by now.
By “learning to read” I mean more specifically: how to read with a purpose, and that purpose
is to read for arguments. Actively identify the question an author asks, the answer the authors
offers (the conclusion), what the author did to answer the question (the methodology), and the
reasons the author offers for why the conclusion is a good one (the premises). Ask yourself
what kind of argument the author is building. For example, is it a normative argument or an
empirical argument? Is it an argument based on the power of ideas, institutions, or something
else? Training yourself to read in this argumentative way is the first step to being able to
develop your own arguments in future term papers.

1
So consider this fair warning: I make you read in this course, and I test your understanding of
what you have read. The written assessments in this course (two midterms and a final exam)
will ask you to identify authors and their arguments, or to build a particular argument based
on the research and writings you are exposed to in this course.

McGill Policy Statements

Language of Submission: In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights,

students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that
is to be graded. This does not apply to courses in which acquiring proficiency in a language is
one of the objectives. Conformément à la Charte des droits de l’étudiant de l’Université
McGill, chaque étudiant a le droit de soumettre en français ou en anglais tout travail écrit
devant être noté (sauf dans le cas des cours dont l’un des objets est la maîtrise d’une langue).

Academic Integrity: McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must
understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic
offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures” (see McGill’s
guide to academic honesty for more information).

Extraordinary Circumstances: In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the

University’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.

Copyright of Lectures: All slides, video recordings, lecture notes, etc. remain the instructor’s
intellectual property. As such, you may use these only for your own learning (and research,
with proper referencing/citation) ends. You are not permitted to disseminate or share these
materials; doing so may violate the instructor’s intellectual property rights and could be cause
for disciplinary action.

Plagiarism: McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must
understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic
offences under the Code of student conduct and disciplinary procedures (see
www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information). L'université McGill attache une haute
importance à l’honnêteté académique. Il incombe par conséquent à tous les étudiants de
comprendre ce que l'on entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions académiques, ainsi
que les conséquences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de
l'étudiant et des procédures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez
consulter le site http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity ).

Course Evaluation

Conferences: 15% (split between attendance [7/15] and participation [8/15])

Midterm Exam: 40%
First Exam (February 7)
Second Exam (March 13)
Final Exam: 45% (or 85% if both midterms are missed)

With respect to conferences:

2
Conferences will begin during the week of January 22. The conference schedule is at the end
of this syllabus. You will need to register on Minerva for a conference section.

There are 9 conferences during the term. Conferences are not recorded. Your conference
grade is determined by your TA. I will not overturn a TA’s grade solely on the basis of a
student’s claim that the TA did not adequately appreciate the quality of the student’s
interventions over the term.

Attendance: There is a maximum of 7 marks for attendance. This means that you can skip two
conferences and still get 7/7. If you attend all 9, you will still get 7/7.

Participation: There are 8 marks for participation in conference. These will be assessed in the
8 conferences before the week of April 8. It seems obvious but I will state it nonetheless: if
you are not there, you will get 0 participation marks. You may still get 0 participation marks if
your TA considers your participation weak or fleeting. If you are unable to attend your
regularly scheduled conference, please contact your TA to see if you can attend one of your
TA’s other conferences that week. If that is not possible, you may submit additional work to
your TA for the purpose of earning the missed participation marks. Any such additional work
is due to the TA a maximum of 48 hours after the originally scheduled conference.

With respect to the midterm exams: There are two scheduled midterm exams. These are
closed-book exams handwritten in class and will take the whole scheduled period. Please do
not be late.

While there are 2 midterm exams, I will use only the higher midterm score in calculating your
course grade. If you do not write a midterm exam, your score for that exam will be 0. It will
not be scored a J (incomplete assignment). If you did not show up, I do not require you to
inform me why you did not show up.

If you write neither midterm, your final exam will be weighted 85% of the course grade.

If you miss a midterm for a documented and serious reason (eg. Illness, death of a family
member), you will be offered the opportunity to write a make-up midterm. You are
responsible for requesting that make-up midterm. You must email me with that request, with
your documentation attached, before March 20 (23h59). The make-up midterm will be held
after March 20, but before the final exam. I will set the time and date of the make-up midterm
exam in consultation with the student(s).

With respect to the final exam: The final exam will be held during the formal examination
period. The final exam will be cumulative. Exam questions will be based on any material
covered in the assigned readings, conferences, and class lectures. According to Senate
regulations, instructors are not permitted to make special arrangements for final exams. Please
consult the Calendar, section 4.7.2.1, General University Information and Regulations at
www.mcgill.ca.

3
 Course Readings

The required textbook is:

Peter H. Russell, François Rocher, Debra Thompson, and Amanda Bittner (eds). Essential
Readings in Canadian Government and Politics, 2nd edition. Toronto: Emond Montgomery
Publications, 2016 (Denoted ER in this syllabus)

The textbook is available for purchase through the McGill bookstore.

All other readings on the syllabus are available on mycourses, and denoted with an asterisk in
this syllabus.

Lecture Outline

Jan. 5: Introduction to the course, plus substantive lecture on the ways of thinking about the
political process. There are no assigned readings. Class will last the full scheduled period.

Part I: Political Culture

Jan. 10: Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism

- *Gad Horowitz. 1966. “Conservatism, Liberalism, and Socialism in Canada: An
Interpretation”. Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, 32:2, 143-171
- *George Grant. Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism (1965)
(extract)
- https://www.tvo.org/video/conservatives-in-search-of-an-identity. This is an episode
of The Agenda, hosted by Steve Paikin, on TVO. It’s a 40 minute discussion on
Canadian conservatism on the eve of the 2020 Conservative leadership race. I
recommend starting at 11 minutes in. It’s a contemporary discussion of Canadian
C/conservatives trying to explain what that means, with echoes of Horowitz and
Grant without actually mentioning those names. Plus, former POLI 222 TA Ben
Woodfinden is also on the panel.

Jan. 12 and Jan 17: Regionalism

- *Jared Wesley and Sylvia Wong. 2022. “Beyond Fragments: The Canadian State and
the Origins of Alberta Political Culture”. International Journal of Canadian Studies,
v.60, 60-87
- *Daniel Béland, André Lecours, and Trevor Tombe, “The Federal Equalization
Program as a Controversial and Contested Policy Success”, in Evert Lindquist et al.
(eds), Policy Success in Canada: Cases, Lessons, Challenges (Oxford University
Press, 2022), 225-244
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1rGj0vp-eE. This is a news conference
streamed on June 7, 2021, by the then Alberta premier Jason Kenney. The portion of
the news conference of interest to us is on the then proposed Alberta referendum on
the Equalization program. Listen to the conference starting at 14:41 until 18:50. Pay

4
 attention to how Premier Kenney explains the referendum as a political tool. In that
segment he starts in English and then at 17:16 in French.

Jan. 19 and Jan 24: Nationalism and Federalism

- Alexander Galt. “Not Derived from the People” (ER 2)
- John A. Macdonald and George-Etienne Cartier. The Confederation Debates in the
Province of Canada (ER 3)
- Letter from Premier Lévesque to Prime Minister Trudeau, December 17, 1982
o As reproduced in James Ross Hurley. 1996. Amending Canada’s
Constitution: History, Processes, Problems and Prospects. Ottawa: Canada
Communications Group – Publishing, Appendix 15, 253-256
- Telex from Prime Minister Trudeau to Premier Lévesque, December 24, 1982
o As reproduced in James Ross Hurley. 1996. Amending Canada’s
Constitution: History, Processes, Problems and Prospects. Ottawa: Canada
Communications Group – Publishing, Appendix 16, 257-259
- Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c.11,
s.38(1) and s.41
- An Act respecting constitutional amendments, SC 1996 c.1

Jan.26: Settler Colonialism

- Jean Chrétien. The White Paper (ER 61)
- Harold Cardinal. The Unjust Society (ER 62)
- Glen Coulthard. Red Skin, White Masks (ER 64)

Jan.31: Multiculturalism
- Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Statement on Multiculturalism (ER 67)
- *Dietlind Stolle et al. 2016. “Religious Symbols, Multiculturalism, and Policy
Attitudes.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 49:2 (June), 335-358

Part II: Partisan Competition

Feb. 2: Electoral Systems

- *Alan Cairns. 1968. “The Electoral System and the Party System in Canada, 1921-
1965”. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 1:1, 55-80 (ER 19)

Feb. 7: MIDTERM EXAM I

- Exam to cover material from Part I of the course
- Written in class, closed-book (in other words, no notes)

Feb. 9 and Feb.14: Canada’s Political Party System

- *Richard Johnston. 2008. “Polarized Pluralism in the Canadian Party System:
Presidential Address to the Canadian Political Science Association, June 5, 2008”.
Canadian Journal of Political Science, 41:4 (December), 815-834
-- Janine Brodie and Jane Jenson “The Party System” (ER 21)

5
 --*Matthew Polacko, Simon Kiss, and Peter Graefe. 2022. “The Changing Nature of
Class Voting in Canada, 1965-2019. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 55:3
(September), 663-686

Feb. 16 and 21: Partisan Identification

- *Richard Johnston. 1992. “Party Identification and Campaign Dynamics”. Political
Behaviour, vol.14, no.3, pg. 311-331
- *Anthony Kevins and Stuart Soroka. 2017. “Growing Apart? Partisan Sorting in
Canada 1992-2015”. Canadian Journal of Political Science 51:1 (March), 103-133

Feb. 23 and Feb.28: Information, Media, and Voters

- *Trimble, Linda, and Shannon Sampert. 2004. “Who’s in the Game? The Framing of
Election 2000 by the Globe and Mail and the National Post”. Canadian Journal of
Political Science 37:1, 51-71
- *Maxime Héroux-Legault. 2023. “The Impact of Political Knowledge on the Voting
Decision”. Canadian Journal of Political Science 56:3 (September), 596-619

Part 3: Political Demands and Policy Change

Mar.1 and Mar 15.: Interest Groups and Social Movements:

- Miriam Smith. Identity and Opportunity: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Movement (ER 60)
- *Agnes Calliste. 1995. “The Influence of the Civil Rights and Black Power
Movement in Canada.” Race, Gender & Class. 2:3 (Spring), 123-139
-*Emmanuelle Richez, Vincent Raynauld, Abunya Agi, and Arief B. Kartolo. 2020.
“Unpacking the Political Effects of Social Movements With a Strong Digital
Component: The Case of #IdleNoMore in Canada.” Social Media + Society, 6(2).
https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120915588

Mar. 13: MIDTERM EXAM II

- Exam to cover material from Part II of the course
- Written in class, closed-book (no notes)

Mar. 20: Models of Judicial Behaviour

- Former Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. Courts, Legislatures and Executives in
the Post-Charter Era (ER 49)
-F.L.Morton and Rainer Knopff. Judges and the Charter Revolution. (ER50)

Mar. 22: The Machinery of Government

- Donald Savoie “The Rise of Court Government in Canada” (ER 15)

Mar. 27: Lobbying

- *Maxime Boucher. 2018. “Who do you know in the PMO?: Lobbying the Prime
Minister’s Office in Canada”. Canadian Public Administration, 61:2, 317-340

6
Apr. 3: Pregnancy Discrimination
-*Brooks v. Canada Safeway [1989] 1 SCR 1219

Apr. 5 and Apr.10: Wrapping it up: Ideas, Interests, or Institutions?

- *Jennifer Elrick. 2022. “Bureaucratic Implementation Practices and the Making of
Canada’s Merit-Based Immigration Policy”. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies,
48:1, 110-128.
- * Harrison, Kathryn, and Chelsea Peet. 2012. “Historical Legacies and Policy
Reform: Diverse Regional Reactions to British Columbia’s Carbon Tax”. BC Studies:
The British Columbian Quarterly 173, 97-122.

Apr. 12: Review. No assigned readings.

- Come with your questions. If there are no questions, we finish up early. If there are
lots of questions, we go the full class time.

7
 Conference Outline

Topic During Week of Assigned Readings / Discussion Questions

Political January 22 Watch the TVO video prior to the conference. Come
Culture prepared to discuss how the panelists think about what
conservatism means in Canada in the 2020s, and tie their
discussion back to Horowitz and Grant.
Settler- January 29 Trudeau/Chretien White Paper (ER61) vs. Cardinal
Indigenous (ER62): How does each reading define what the problem
Politics is? What solutions do they propose?
Midterm February 5 Cancelled to enable TAs to mark the midterm quickly.
Exam
Week
Electoral February 12 Alan Cairns (ER19) and Electoral Systems
Systems
PID February 19 The Canadian Party System
Parties and February 26 Partisan Identification and polarization (Kevins/Soroka)
Polarization
Midterm March 11 Cancelled to enable TAs to mark the exam quickly
Exam
Week
Idle No March 18 Explaining Social Movement Success: Political
More: Opportunity Structure or Resource Mobilization?
Social
Movements
Judicial March 25 Morton/Knopf (ER50) vs. McLachlin (ER49)
Behaviour
These are two very different arguments about judicial
review. Which do you think is the stronger? Why?
Policy April 1 TBA
Outcomes
Review April 8 This conference will count towards attendance but not
participation.