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The Canadian House of Commons has very disciplined parties even by Westminster
standards. Yet Canadian parties are traditionally notable for ideological heterogenenity in both
their parliamentary party groups (known as “caucuses”) and wider membership. This traditional
pattern of high discipline but limited ideological cohesion has been partly challenged in the
1990s by new parties, but remains strong. The relationship between party discipline and party
cohesion remains contested in the legislative literature, and the Canadian case presents an
unusual situation of tightly disciplined but ideologically heterogeneous parties.
The article begins with an overview of the national party system and the state of party
discipline and cohesion in Canada. It explores “discipline” and “cohesion” as different and
overlapping routes to party unity - one negative, one more positive - and demonstrates how
Canadian parties are generally very disciplined but lack strong cohesion, at least in ideological
ways. We then look particularly at the new Reform/Canadian Alliance party and its partial
departure from traditional patterns, as well as recent leadership challenges within party caucuses.
The paper suggests that these patterns of discipline and cohesion are linked to the highly fluid
grassroots membership of Canadian parties, but further research is required to clarify the
relationship.
The Party System
The Canadian federal party system is best understood in two periods - before and after
1993. Before 1993, the system featured two dominant brokerage parties alternating in power, the
Liberals and Progressive Conservatives, and a third, smaller and more ideologically-focused
Convention