Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T13:04:45.420Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The City-Suburban Cleavage in Canadian Federal Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2005

R. Alan Walks
R. Alan Walks
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Abstract. Despite increasing speculation and attention, as of yet insufficient empirical research has been conducted on the possibility of a political cleavage based on differences between Canadian inner cities and suburbs. This article sheds light on the potential existence of such differences by analyzing federal elections at the level of the constituency from 1945 to 1997. Results show that city-suburban differences in federal party voting did not become significant until the 1980s, and increased after this point, with inner-city residents remaining to the left of the rest of Canada in their party preferences while suburbanites shifted increasingly to the right in their voting patterns. The results obtained from regression analysis suggest that such a divergence cannot be reduced solely to differences in social composition, housing tenure, or region, and thus confirm that it constitutes a ‘true’ political cleavage. It is argued that intra-urban geography needs to taken into account in future analyses of Canadian political behaviour.

Résumé. Malgré un intérêt croissant pour la question, il existe encore peu de recherches empiriques sur un possible clivage politique dont les fondements seraient les différences entre les quartiers urbains centraux et les banlieues. Cet article jette un nouvel éclairage sur l'existence possible de ces différences à partir d'une analyse des résultats électoraux dans les circonscriptions fédérales entre 1945 et 1997. Les résultats obtenus indiquent que les différences entre le vote pour les partis politiques fédéraux ne sont devenues significatives que pendant les années 1980, mais qu'elles se sont exacerbées par la suite, les résidents de quartiers centraux demeurant à la gauche de l'échiquier politique tandis que les banlieues votaient de plus en plus à droite. Les résultats de l'analyse de régression suggèrent que ces différences ne sont pas seulement attribuables à la composition sociale, au taux de propriété, ou encore à la région, et constituent par le fait même un “ véritable ” clivage politique. L'auteur conclut que l'analyse géographique intra-urbaine devra être prise en compte dans les analyses futures du comportement politique Canadien.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , June 2005 , pp. 383 - 413
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alphonso, C. 2003. “905 belt no longer Tory stronghold as voters tilt to the left.” The Globe and Mail, October 3, A11.
Archer, J. C., G.T. Murauskas, F.M. Shelley, E.R. White and P.T. Taylor. 1985. “Counties, states, sections and parties in the 1984 presidential election.” Professional Geographer 37(3): 279–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barber, J. 2003. “You heard it here first: Area-code politics is now yesterday's news.” The Globe and Mail, September 30, A13.
Berger, B.M. 1960. Working Class Suburb: A Study of Auto Workers in Suburbia. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Blake, D.E. 1972. “The measurement of regionalism in Canadian voting patterns.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 5(1): 55–81.Google Scholar
Blake, D.E. 1978. “Constituency contexts and Canadian elections: An exploratory study.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 11(2): 279–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blakely, E.J. and M.G. Snyder. 1997. Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Boudreau, J.A. 2000. The MegaCity Saga: Democracy and Citizenship in this Global Age. Montreal: Black Rose Books.
Brownstone, M. and T.J. Plunkett. 1983. Metropolitan Winnipeg: Politics and Reform of Local Government. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bunting, T.E., R.A. Walks and P. Filion. 2004. “The Uneven Geography of Housing Affordability Stress in Canadian Metropolitan Areas.” Housing Studies 19(3): 361–393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Castells, M. 1977. The Urban Question: A Marxist Approach (English Translation, Originally published in French in 1972). London: E. Arnold.
Castells, M. 1978. City, Class and Power. London: Macmillan.
Christian, W. and C. Campbell. 1990. Political Parties and Ideologies in Canada, third edition. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited.
Cho, W.T. 1998. “If the assumption fits … : A Comment on the King ecological inference solution.” Political Analysis 7(1): 143–163.Google Scholar
Clark, S.D. 1963. “Group interests in Canadian politics.” In The Political Process in Canada. ed. J. H. Aitchison. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 64–78.
Cox, K.R. 1969. “The voting decision in a spatial context.” Progress in Geography, 1(1): 81–117.Google Scholar
Dale, S. 1999. Lost in the Suburbs: A Political Travelogue. Toronto: Stoddart.
Dale, S. 2000. “Taking Stock in the burbs.” The Globe and Mail, June 29, A19.
Delacourt, S. and G. Fraser. 2004. “Leaders push the hot buttons.” The Toronto Star, June 16, A1, A9.
Dobriner, W.M. 1963. Class in Suburbia. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Donald, B. 2002. “The permeable city: Toronto's spatial shift at the turn of the millennium.” The Professional Geographer 54(2): 190–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donaldson, S. 1969. The Suburban Myth. New York: Columbia University Press.
Drummond, R. 1990. “Voting behaviour: Counting the change.” In The Government and Politics of Ontario, fourth edition, ed. G. White. Scarborough: Nelson Canada, p. 238–254.
Dunleavy, P. 1979. “The urban basis of political dealignment: Social class, domestic property ownership, and state intervention in consumption processes.” British Journal of Political Science 9(4): 409–443.Google Scholar
Dunleavy, P. and C. Husbands. 1985. British Democracy at the Crossroads. London: Allen and Unwin.
Eagles, M. 1990. “Political ecology: Local effects on the political behaviour of Canadians.” In Canadian Politics: An Introduction to the Discipline, eds. A.G. Gagnon and J.P. Bickerton. Peterborough: Broadview Press, p. 285–307.
Eagles, M., J.B. Bickerton, A.G. Gagnon and P.J. Smith 1995. The Almanac of Canadian Politics: Second Edition. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
Fischler, R. and J. Wolfe. 2000. “Regional restructuring in Montreal: an historical analysis.” Canadian Journal of Regional Science 23(1): 89–114.Google Scholar
Frank Magazine. 2000. “905: The number of the Beast: Stockwell Day campaigns in Southern Ontario.” July 26: 6.
Frisken, F. 1994. “Metropolitan change and the challenge to public policy.” In The Changing Canadian Metropolis: A Public Policy Perspective, volume 1, ed. F. Frisken. Toronto: Canadian Urban Institute, pp. 1–38.
Frisken, F. 2001. “The Toronto story: sober reflections on fifty years of experiments with regional governance.” Journal of Urban Affairs 23(5): 513–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galloway, G. 2004. “The 905's soccer moms are not impressed.” The Globe and Mail, June 22, A1.
Gainsborough, J. 2001. Fenced Off: The Suburbanization of American Politics. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.
Gans, H. 1967. The Levittowners: Ways of Life and Politics in a New Suburban Community. New York: Pantheon Books.
Gayk, W.R. 1991. “The taxpayer's revolt.” In Postsuburban California: The Transformation of Orange County since World War II, eds. R. Kling, S. Olin and M. Poster. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 281–300.
Gidengil, E. 1989. “Class and region in Canadian voting: A dependency interpretation.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 22(3): 563–587.Google Scholar
Gidengil E., A. Blais, R. Nadeau and N. Nevitte. 1999. “Making sense of regional voting in the 1997 Canadian federal election: Liberal and reform support outside Quebec.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 32(2): 247–272.Google Scholar
Gidengil, E. 2002. “The class voting conundrum.” In Political Sociology: Canadian Perspectives, ed. D. Baer. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, pp. 274–287.
Goldberg, M.A. and J. Mercer. 1986. The Myth of the North American City. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
Greer, A.L. and S. Greer. 1976. “Suburban political behaviour: A matter of trust.” In The Changing Face of the Suburbs, ed. B. Schwartz. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 203–220.
Harding, K. 2004. “Tradition doesn't count in suburban ridings.” The Globe and Mail, June 16, A9.
Hale, G.E. 1997. “Changing patterns of party support in Ontario.” In Revolution at Queen's Park: Essays on Governing Ontario, ed. S. Noel. Toronto: Lorimer, pp. 107–124.
Harris, L. 1954. Is There a Republican Majority? New York: Hager and Brothers.
Huckfeldt, R. 1984. “Political loyalties and social class ties: The mechanisms of contextual influences.” American Journal of Political Science 28(2): 399–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ibbitson, J. 1997. Promised Land: Inside The Mike Harris Revolution. Toronto: Prentice-Hall.
Ibbitson, J. 2000. “Why Day may soon be PM.” The Globe and Mail, June 28, A1.
Irvine, W.P. 1974. “Explaining the religious base of the Canadian partisan identity: Success on the third try.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 7(3): 560–563.Google Scholar
Jackson, R.J. and D. Jackson. 1990. Politics in Canada: Culture, Institutions, Behaviour, and Public Policy, second edition. Scarborough: Prentice-Hall Canada.
Jeffrey, B. 1999. Hard Right Turn: The New Face of Neo-Conservatism in Canada. Toronto: Harper Collins.
Johnston, R. 1985. “The reproduction of the religious cleavage in Canadian elections.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 18(1): 99–113.Google Scholar
Keil, R. 2002. “‘Common-sense’ neoliberalism: Progressive conservative urbanism in Toronto, Canada.” Antipode. 34(3): 578–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keil, R. 2000. “Governance restructuring in Los Angeles and Toronto: Amalgamation or secession?” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 24(4): 758–781.Google Scholar
King, G. 1997. A Solution to the Ecological Inference Problem: Reconstructing Individual Behavior from Aggregate Data. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Layton, J. 2001. Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis. Toronto: Penguin.
Leo, C. 1977. The Politics of Urban Development: Canadian Urban Expressway Disputes. Toronto: Institute of Public Administration of Canada.
Ley, D. 1994. “Gentrification and the politics of the new middle class.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 12(1): 53–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ley, D. 1996. The New Middle Class and the Re-Making of the Central City. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Lorinc, J. 2003. “Politics: you don't know Jack. Today, federal New Democrats will decide whether to entrust their future to a man many consider an outsider.” The Globe and Mail, January 25, A1.
MacCharles, T. 2004. “Hometown girl starts her journey uptown.” The Toronto Star, January 21, A1, A7.
Mallan, C. 2003. “Star poll: Liberals head for majority.” The Toronto Star, September 27, A1, A8.
McKenzie, E. 1994. Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Mendelsohn, M. and R. Nadeau. 1997. “The religious cleavage and the media in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 30(1): 129–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meisel, J. 1974. Cleavages, Parties and Values in Canada. London: Sage Publications.
Miller, W.L. 1977. “Social class and party choice in England: A new analysis.” British Journal of Political Science 8(3): 257–284.Google Scholar
Miller, G. 1981. Cities by Contract: The Politics of Municipal Incorporation. Cambridge, MA: M.I.T. Press.
Murphy, T.P. and J. Rehfuss. 1976. Urban Politics in the Suburban Era. Homewood, IL: Dorsey.
Nevitte, N., A. Blais, E. Gidengil and R. Nadeau. 2000. Unsteady State: The 1997 Canadian Federal Election. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
Ogmundson, R. 1975. “On the measurement of party class positions: The case of Canadian federal political parties.” Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 12(4): 565–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, J.E. 2001. Democracy in Suburbia. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Ornstein, M.H. 2003. “Social class and voting in Ontario.” Lien Social et Politiques 49: 21–42.Google Scholar
Ornstein, M.H. and H.M. Stevenson. 1999. Politics and Ideology in Canada: Elite and Public Opinion and the Transformation of a Welfare State. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.
Pattie, C. J. and R.J. Johnston. 2000. “‘People who talk together vote together’: An exploration of contextual effects in Great Britain.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers 90(1): 41–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, K.P. 1969. The Emerging Republican Majority. New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House.
Pratt, G. 1986. “Against reductionism: The relations of consumption as a mode of social structuration.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 10(3): 377–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratt, G. 1987. “Class, home and politics.” Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 24(1): 39–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rex, J and R. Moore. 1967. Race, Community, and Conflict. London: Oxford University Press.
Sancton, A. 1994. Governing Canada's City-Regions: Adapting Form to Function. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy.
Sauerzopf, R. and T. Swanstrom. 1999. “The urban electorate in presidential elections, 1920–1996.” Urban Affairs Review 35(1): 72–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, P. 1978. “Domestic property and social class.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 2(2): 233–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, P. 1990. A Nation of Homeowners. London: Unwin Hyman.
Schneider, W. 1992. “The suburban century begins.” Atlantic Monthly (July): 33–44.Google Scholar
Schwartz, M. 1974a. “Canadian voting behaviour.” In Electoral Behaviour: A Comparitive Handbook, ed. R. Rose. London: Collier Macmillan, pp. 543–617.
Schwartz, M. 1974b. Politics and Territory: The Sociology of Regional Persistence in Canada. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press.
Sheppard, R. 2000. “Hardest sell: Can Stockwell Day convince Ontarians to turn their back on tradition?” Maclean's (November 6): 18–20.Google Scholar
Sheppard, R. 2002. “Champion of the far left: Toronto councillor Jack Layton represents one wing fightin' for the NDP.” Maclean's (October 7): 25–26.Google Scholar
Simeon, R. and D.J. Elkins. 1974. “Regional political cultures in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 7(3): 397–437.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turcotte, M. 2001. “L'opposition rural/urbain a-t-elle fait son temps? Le cas du traditionalism moral.” Canadian Journal of Sociology 26(1): 1–29.Google Scholar
Van Rijn, N. 2003. “Liberals paint Tories' 905 bastion red.” The Toronto Star, October 3, A4.
Verberg, N. 2000. “Homeownership and politics: Testing the political incorporation thesis.” Canadian Journal of Sociology 25(2): 169–195.Google Scholar
Walks, R.A. 2001. “The Social Ecology of the Post-Fordist/ Global City? Economic Restructuring and Socio-Spatial Polarisation in the Toronto Urban Region.” Urban Studies 38(3): 407–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walks, R.A. 2004a. “Place of residence, party preferences, and political attitudes in Canadian cities and suburbs.” Journal of Urban Affairs 26(3): 269–295.Google Scholar
Walks, R.A. 2004b. “Suburbanization, the vote, and changes in federal and provincial political representation and influence between inner cities and suburbs in large Canadian urban regions, 1945–1999.” Urban Affairs Review 39(4): 411–440.Google Scholar
White, G., ed. 1997. The Government and Politics of Ontario, fifth edition. Scarborough: Nelson Canada.
Whyte, W.H. 1956. The Organization Man. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Wirt, F.M. 1965. “The political sociology of American suburbs: A reinterpretation.” Journal of Politics 27(3): 647–666.Google Scholar
Wirt, F.M. and B. Walter. 1971. “The political consequences of suburban variety.” Social Science Quarterly 52(3): 746–767.Google Scholar
Wirt, F.M., F. Rabinowitz, B. Walter and D. Hensler. 1972. On the City's Rim: Politics and Policy in Suburbia. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath.
Wiseman, N. 1997. “Change in Ontario politics.” In The Government and Politics of Ontario, fifth edition, ed. G. White. Scarborough: Nelson Canada, pp. 418–442.
Wolman, H. and L. Marckini. 1998. “Changes in central-city representation and influence in Congress since the 1960s.” Urban Affairs Review 34(2): 291–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, R.C. 1958. Suburbia: Its People and Their Politics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Woodsworth, J.S. 1972 (org. 1909). Strangers Within Our Gates. Toronto: originally printed by Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, 1909, reprinted by the University of Toronto Press, 1972.
Woodsworth, J.S. 1972 (org. 1911). My Neighbour. Toronto: originally printed by Methodist Book Room, 1911, reprinted by the University of Toronto Press, 1972.
Young, L. and K. Archer, eds. 2002. Regionalism and Party Politics in Canada. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
Zikmund, J. II 1967. “A comparison of political attitude and activity patterns in central cities and suburbs.” Public Opinion Quarterly. 31(1): 11–27.Google Scholar