Federal-Provincial Variation in Leadership Selection: Processes and Participation

Abstract

The selection of party leaders has received considerable attention in the last decade. Despite the growing literature, there have been relatively few instances of comparative federal-provincial work in this area. We address this issue by exploring leadership selection patterns both federally and provincially in Canada and include 30 parties represented in national and provincial legislatures across the country. Specifically, we examine three hypotheses using data from 2015: (1) Given the contagion effects identified in the literature, we expect to find a convergence upon a universal selection method; (2) We expect to find the greatest congruence among federal and provincial parties that are organizationally integrated and the least among those that are organizationally truncated; and (3) Contrary to the second-order election thesis, we expect to find no difference in the levels of participation in leadership elections at the provincial and federal level.