Canadian Political Science: Missing in Action?

Permit me to pose a provocative question, deliberately directed toward the progressive stream of Canadian political science: Is the discipline missing in action? Where are the centre-left voices?

What about the other side of the spectrum? you might ask. Simply stated, there is no doubt conservative colleagues have wielded considerable influence through direct as well as indirect ties since January 2006 to the Prime Minister’s Office, sustained partisan and governmental engagement at the provincial level (Alberta finance minister Ted Morton, for example, is on leave from his position at the University of Calgary) and impact via these channels on both Canadian public opinion and public policy.

Progressive political science, on the other hand, only appears to be alive and well if we focus on conference programs, scholarly publications as well as individual professors’ blogs and Facebook postings. What rests beneath this seemingly healthy veneer? In my view, a...