Political Choices and Electoral Consequences: A Study of Organized Labour and the NDP

Eric P. Mintz is an associate professor of political science at Sir
Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Archer, an associate professor of political science at the University of
Calgary, seeks to explain the limited support for the ndp in terms of
the weakness of union ties to the ndp. Although the ndp’s founders
sought to develop close ties to organized labor, the ndp, like its
predecessor, the ccf, was concerned to prevent union dominance of the
party. Affiliated membership in the ndp was, therefore, provided for
union locals rather than for central labor organizations, with
affiliated members of the party receiving less representation in the
party than regular members. However, with little incentive for
individual union locals to affiliate with the ndp, only a tiny
proportion of locals have affiliated with the party. Without formal
affiliation, most union members do not have a strong cue encouraging
them to support the ndp. In support of this argument, Archer presents
survey evidence indicating that members of union locals affiliated to
the ndp are more likely than members of nonaffiliated unions (and
nonunionists) to support the ndp. In the final chapter, Archer presents
the findings of a complex analysis of voting behavior in the 1979
Canadian election. Basically, he finds that partisanship has the
strongest effect on voter choice, with union membership having little
direct effect on voting for the ndp. However, membership in an
affiliated local did have a significant independent effect on
identification with the ndp.

Three of the six chapters of this short book have previously been
published as journal articles. Although the analysis of some topics is
excellent, the book presents only a sketchy discussion of its basic
argument and ends abruptly, without a conclusion. This reviewer was left
unpersuaded by the implication that the ndp would gain more support if
it were more clearly a “labor party” on the British model, and would
like to have seen a much more thorough discussion of the problems faced
by the ndp.