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A group apart

19 Sep 2007

The requirement in our political system that the government retain the confidence of a majority of Members of the House of Commons meant that the only way for a government to achieve some sort of political stability was to convince MPs to form into a political party on which the government could rely. [...] In this model of party organization, which emerged in the era prior to mass electronic media, party members were essential resources for a party, providing the volunteer labour that allowed the party to get out its message to the electorate. [...] However limited and imperfect parties are, the ways in which party members engage in party life creates a mechanism through which Canadians can influence the direction of their political parties and thus the choices available to them at the ballot box. [...] The absence of young party members on the right of the political spectrum was unavoidable and certainly has implications for the interpretation of our findings. [...] The greater religiosity of the party members in the study is suggestive of a more traditional profile among young party members than non-members.
youth government education politics democracy school canada culture political participation voting young adults political system election liberal party further education society new democratic party conservative party of canada advocacy group democratic process democratic systems bloc québécois ndp party democratic party (united states) new democrats canadian alliance

Authors

Young, Lisa

Pages
40
Published in
Canada

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