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“Expansion in Progress”: Understanding Portfolio Adoption in the Canadian Provinces, 1982–2012

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2015

Andrea Lawlor  and
J.P. Lewis
Andrea Lawlor*
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
J.P. Lewis*
Affiliation:
University of New Brunswick
*
Department of Political Science, King's University College, Western University, London ON, Canada. E-mail: andrea.lawlor@uwo.ca
Department of History and Politics, University of New Brunswick (Saint John), Saint John NB, Canada. E-mail: jp.lewis@unb.ca
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Abstract

While the act of adopting a new portfolio raises a number of interesting queries, little attention has been paid to portfolio adoption, what motivates and what conditions predicate it. The Canadian case provides an excellent laboratory to test some broadly held assumptions about portfolio adoption, particularly given the contrast of the ten provinces' unique political cultures with their shared jurisdictional roles. We illustrate our case using a dataset that contains information on 85 portfolio adoptions in the Canadian provinces since 1982. Findings suggest little by way of a clear set of partisan or institutional motivations for portfolio adoption, although there is some evidence that governments are more likely to adopt portfolios in the first 100 days of governing and they are more likely to do so when elected with larger caucuses, possibly because of the need to find larger roles for party loyalists.

Résumé

Bien que le fait d’adopter un nouveau portefeuille soulève un certain nombre de questions intéressantes, peu d’attention a été accordée à l’adoption du portefeuille, ce qui motive l’adoption et les conditions sur lesquelles elle repose. Le cas du Canada représente un excellent exemple pour tester certaines hypothèses largement retenues à propos de l’adoption du portefeuille, plus précisément en raison du contraste entre les cultures politiques uniques des dix provinces et de leurs compétences partagées. Nous illustrons notre cas en utilisant un ensemble de données qui contient des informations sur 85 adoptions de portefeuille dans les provinces canadiennes depuis 1982. Les résultats ne fournissent que très peu d’explication quant à un ensemble clair de motivations partisanes ou institutionnelles pour l’adoption du portefeuille, mais il existe des preuves que les gouvernements sont plus susceptibles d’adopter des portefeuilles dans les 100 premiers jours de leur arrivée au pouvoir et de passer à l’action lorsqu’élus avec un grand caucus, possiblement en raison de la nécessité de trouver un rôle plus important pour les membres loyaux du parti.

Veuillez prendre note que des corrections ont été apportées au résumé de la version originale en ligne de cet article. L’éditeur présente ses excuses pour ces erreurs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 48 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 29 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2015 

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