Parliamentary Representation in Canada

Extract

The statistical analyses of representation in the Canadian House of Commons which follow are based on a file of approximately 2,200 cards, each card representing a Canadian member of Parliament. The file covers the entire period from 1867 to the present, the following information being sought in each case: name, date and place of birth, party affiliation and electoral record, constituencies represented, occupation or economic interests, religion, education, previous experience in municipal or provincial politics, and career after leaving the House of Commons. Some of this information, such as names and constituencies represented, was readily obtainable from official sources, and much of the rest was equally accessible in such reference books as the Canadian Parliamentary Guide, Who's Who, etc. Some of it, however, such as the “post-M.P.” career of a man who did not attain the Elysian fields of the Senate or the Bench, was difficult and often impossible to secure, for most reference books of biography show a regrettable tendency to drop names from their pages unless the individual concerned is continuously successful in his career. Defeated or retired members are for this reason often hard to trace, unless there is some justification for their prominence as a citizen other than their political undertakings. Another point on which it has been impossible to find satisfactory data is that of members' education.