Why are Canadian politicians so loyal to their parties? Why do so few parliamentarians rebel as mavericks or switch sides? And can anything loosen the grip that party leaders have on elected representatives?
No “I” in Team: Party Loyalty in Canadian Politics by political scientists Alex Marland, Jared J. Wesley, and Mireille Lalancette provides the first in-depth examination of the forces shaping party loyalty in Canadian politics, revealing how Members of Parliament and provincial legislators are conditioned to prioritize partisan interests over constituents and independent judgment. The authors show how institutional rules, political pressure, social dynamics, and digital technologies reinforce a system demanding unwavering loyalty. Drawing on extensive interviews with politicians and senior staff, plus analyses of thousands of news stories spanning four decades, this book traces how party discipline evolved into message discipline, where control over speech is as strict as control over votes.
As political parties consolidate power and dissenting voices grow rarer, No “I” in Team raises urgent questions about the state of democratic representation in Canada – one of the world’s most stable democracies – where elected officials increasingly act as partisans rather than delegates of their communities or trustees of the broader public good.
