Turning Point Elections - Böcker

Revival and Change is a compelling account of the elections, accomplishments, challenges, failures, and ultimate end of the Diefenbaker era.The Liberals had been in office for two decades when the 1957 election was called and were widely expected to win another majority government. But new Conservative leader John Diefenbaker completely overshadowed his opponents. Highlighting Liberal arrogance, Diefenbaker seized the opportunity that television and boisterous, supportive rallies offered to present his vision of a new Canada. He was ultimately victorious. A second election in 1958 resulted in a landslide victory, with the Liberals reduced to their smallest number of seats since Confederation, the CCF reduced to eight seats and losing its leader, and Social Credit wiped out completely. It was a rout never before seen in Canadian history.Revival and Change is the story of those elections, the government and opposition they produced, the issues that defined the government, and the era's legacy in Canadian politics and society.

Pivot or Pirouette? covers both the backstory and the aftermath of the strangest election in Canadian history, as told by an insider who was involved in the events before, during, and after the ballots were cast.In the early 1990s, a pan-Canadian coalition of Tory voters had been splintered by constitutional politics. Discontented voters flocked to new regional parties; the Conservatives attempted to turn the tide by choosing the first female prime minister, but their efforts fell flat. In the 1993 election, the party was reduced to two seats, the separatist Bloc Québécois became the official opposition, and the Reform Party swept the West. Although the shocking results seemed pivotal, ultimately the pivot turned into a full pirouette as Canadian politics returned to historical norms: new parties shake up the system but are eventually absorbed into it, bringing innovation but not transformation. You can't understand modern Canadian politics without understanding the 1993 election.

In 1935, Canadians went to the polls against the backdrop of the Great Depression and deteriorating international conditions. This election was like no other, as five major parties competed for voters who were used to a traditional slate of Liberals versus Conservatives. King and Chaos examines the significance of this turning point in political history.As the Conservative government splintered under the weight of outdated policies, the opposition Liberals watched the destruction. Meanwhile, the newly minted Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, Social Credit Party, and Reconstruction Party broadened the electoral base, bringing working-class Canadians – and working-class issues – more directly into the political process.Although Canadians ultimately swept Liberal William Lyon Mackenzie King back into power, King and Chaos demonstrates that the advent of third parties transformed the political landscape. And while other countries turned to dictators and demagogues, King delivered a less radical but equally important change: an effective electoral machine and a national coalition of French and English Canada that dominated politics for the next generation.

Times of Transformation positions the watershed 1921 federal election in the context of activist efforts and the revolutionary mood in the years following the Great War. New Liberal leader William Lyon Mackenzie King, who went on to become Canada's longest-serving prime minister, came to power, with his party capturing every Quebec seat. This election brought many Canadian firsts: the first post-Confederation minority government, the first time women were eligible to vote on terms equal to men, and the first effective fracturing of the two-party system, with the establishment of a federal Labour party and the dramatic rise of the Progressives.These changes had been brewing before the end of the war. The Progressive party owed its success to the increased politicization of farmers and the concerns of the western voting base. Suffrage came after a decades-long battle for political rights for women. Labour strikes swept the nation in the post–Great War era, and a new national Labour party gained Commons representation. In short, this election manifested long-building forces for change and the global zeitgeist of postwar disillusionment and hope.