The Canadian General Election of 2000

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

The Canadian General Election of 2000 is the latest volume in a series
begun in 1984 of postelection analyses edited by faculty at Carleton
University. The campaign of each of the five major parties is analyzed
by political scientists who have connections to each party. The Green
Party is discussed by Joan Russow, its leader at the time of the 2000
election. Four chapters deal with various aspects of media coverage of
the election. Liberal pollster Michael Marzolini offers some insight
into Liberal strategy and polling. The final two chapters present some
survey data concerning the impact of the campaign on the electorate.

Since elections are the centrepiece of democracy, it is useful to have
an accessible record of each election, and this book provides students
of political science and journalism with a contemporary and readable
case study to supplement the often dated material in textbooks. Of
particular interest is Stephen Clarkson’s discussion of the Liberal
campaign, which includes a critique of Carty, Cross, and Young’s
influential analysis of the contemporary party system. Also noteworthy
is Faron Ellis’s review of the formation of the Canadian Alliance.

Readers of this book will find it much less detailed than election
studies in other countries. A more thorough introduction and more
comprehensive analysis of party positions would have been useful. As
well, it is unfortunate that the book was published before the results
of the 2000 Canadian Election Study were available.