This article examines the properties and relative strengths of two approaches to reducing barriers to trade among nations: multilateral negotiating rounds versus regional economic blocs. Instead of focusing on the net welfare gains—the macro-level effects—that result either from each member of the system reducing trade barriers to all its partners (rounds) or from reductions among a subset of states (blocs), the analysis focuses on the institutional features (group size and the voting and enforcement mechanisms) that may affect individual nations' micro-level motivations to participate in and abide by certain trade arrangements. Existing models in formal theory are used to analyze these approaches in terms of voting games and collective action models.

Public opinion regarding environmental issues has attracted considerable scholarly attention during the 1990s. Less attention has been paid to links between environmentally friendly attitudes and “green” behaviour and the degree to which behaviour is context or value-driven, especially in Canada. Using survey data from British Columbia, this article analyzes these links, paying particular attention to differences between public perceptions of local versus global environment, and how these concerns influence behaviour. The analysis also demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between different types of behaviour. While the crucial role of postmaterial values for three kinds of environmentally friendly behaviour is confirmed, other factors, particularly left/right ideological differences and personal financial circumstances emerge as significant explanatory variables. “Green consumer behaviour” is largely determined by local context. Local concerns also drive “green political activity,” but value differences are crucial as well. Left/right differences and personal financial circumstances are especially important in explaining “green pocketbook behaviour” — willingness to incur costs, either personally or through taxes, for environmental protection and enhancement.

Canada's single-member plurality (SMP) rules for elections to the House of Commons have a number of disadvantages, including their tendency to promote severe underrepresentation of the governing party in some regions, reward regionally concentrated parties, lead to single-region dominance of the governing party caucus and underrepresent women, Aboriginal peoples and visible minorities. Electoral reforms proposed to weaken these effects, especially proportional representation and “mixed-member corrective” systems, generally make single-party majority governments almost impossible. After reviewing alternatives, this article presents a simulation of the effects of a system featuring a limited number of compensation seats designed to award most of these seats to the parties that garner the most votes nationwide. This system could help rectify many of the problems associated with the current SMP system while only modestly lowering the prospects for single-party majority government.

Using data on women's representation at the municipal level in Quebec over the 1985–1995 period, this article questions the assumption that there are few barriers to women's access to elected office at the local level. While the number of female mayors and councillors in Quebec's cities has increased significantly, the authors find that many councils have either no women or only a token female presence. The more desirable the council seat, the less likely women are to have achieved a significant level of representation. The general weakness of community characteristics and political structures in explaining variation in women's representation points to the presence of more systemic barriers.

This article examines voting trends in recent Ontario elections and the impact of incumbency, gender, campaign expenditures and the number of candidates per seat on the electoral success of a candidate. Voter turnout is found to be consistently lower in larger cities. The number of females holding office has increased over time, with large cities having the highest proportion of females in office. As candidates, males and females have similar success rates. Incumbency provides a huge advantage, especially in large cities. The level of campaign spending also has a significant effect as does the number of candidates contesting a seat.