Research

As the drama of the Republican and Democratic conventions in the U.S. recedes, our attention north of the border has turned toward our own election. Why are there almost always just two political parties in the U.S., while we have several in Canada?

There are a few interrelated answers, according to Professor Lawrence LeDuc of political science.

First, the U.S. has a different electoral structure. “Some of the third party movements that we’ve traditionally had in Canada get absorbed in the U.S. through the primaries,” he says. For example, “there’s not much of a movement to start a green party in the U.S. but there are green candidates—candidates raising environmental issues—who will run in the Republican or Democratic primaries.” In other words, the issues raised by candidates who might run in third parties in Canada are subsumed into the platforms of the major parties in the U.S. through the primary system.

The institution of the presidency in the U.S. tends to concentrate political power into fewer hands, says LeDuc. “You can only elect one president. It’s different than electing a parliament where you have all kinds of different groups being represented. There’s not as much point in running a third party candidate for president. Even a strong candidate like Ross Perot, who got 19 per cent of the vote in 1992, has nothing to show for it.”

It’s also not easy for a new party to get on the ballot in the U.S.. “Each state makes its own rules — there is no national election administration as there is in Canada. So a party that gets its candidates on the ballot in one state may have difficulty getting on in another.”

We must also look to historical reasons for cross-border party differences. “The Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. have been around for a long time and have had a greater capacity over time to change and adapt to new political circumstances or new political movements.”

Finally, says, LeDuc, regional divisions are important. Though they exist in both countries, in Canada they have found expression in political parties in a way they have not in the U.S. While Canada has been home to the western-based Reform party and the Bloc Quebecois, “American politics has tended, at least since the Civil War—to be more national in its orientation.”

All this is not to say, cautions LeDuc, that these tendencies are fixed. “These are patterns, but they’re patterns that can be broken—and have been, from time to time.”

Tags: Behind the Headlines, Lawrence LeDuc, politics, Society