Three Provinces, Three Cultures

The ecent federal election gave the Harper Conservatives and the New Democratic Party the upper hand in Ottawa. Since both parties had their origins in Prairie protest movements, the roots of which go back over a century, it is useful to look at the forces that launched them.

For more than a hundred years these forces have had huge impacts on election outcomes in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. They were subliminal, neither visible nor audible on the surface, and they developed differently in each of the three provinces. In his new book, Code Politics: Campaigns and Cultures on the Canadian Prairies, Jared J. Wesley seeks to uncover the mystery of these undercurrents and explain why, despite common geographies, social and economic histories, settlement patterns and institutional foundations, they helped create three distinct “political cultures.” Wesley, taking his lead from earlier political scientists, defines political culture as a set of common...