Challenging the Status Quo: Lessons on Parties, Elections and Voting from the Great White North

Canadian scholars are often thought of as “takers ” of theories, conducting research by applying theories developed elsewhere to the case of Canada. The argument presented in the following pages is that this process has led to a better, comparative understanding of the theories themselves due to the challenges, corrections and contradictions that the Canadian case provides for the original literature. In this paper I focus on Canadian contributions to two areas of research, elections and political behaviour. I argue that the lessons the Canadian case offers in these areas originate in the character of the Canadian party system, which has been greatly influenced by the regionalism that has characterized the country since it was created. Not only has Canada provided unique findings that enrich comparative studies of elections and political behaviour, but the realization of how Canada differs from other countries of study has also highlighted a prominent and important area of study (party politics and regionalism) for domestic scholars