Nowhere more than in Canada has printed election material been influenced by the electronic bias that increasingly dominates party campaign strategies. Long and relatively complex manifestos have been replaced by shorter pamphlets – themselves dominated by photographs and headlines. Though the responsibilities of government have become broader and more complex (indeed, partly because of this), the short-term stances of parties have been increasingly simplified and focused. The evolution in the style and format of party election documents in Canada is as striking as changes in their content and indeed, the two are related. In this chapter we shall examine both developments.

PARTIES AND DOCUMENTS

Our analysis covers the thirteen elections from 1945 to 1980. The dominant federal party during this period was the Liberal Party of Canada (Whitaker 1977). It held office from 1945 to 1957, winning parliamentary majorities in three successive elections. After a narrow electoral defeat in 1957, it resigned and was in opposition until 1963. Thereafter, it governed, confidently or precariously, until 1979. In 1963, 1965 and 1972 it could manage only a minority government. In 1968 and 1974, the party won parliamentary majorities. Its defeat in 1979 led to nine months in opposition, after which it returned to power. The fortunes of the Progressive Conservative Party, the main opposition party, are naturally the mirror image of this.

The supporting cast (‘supporting’ in a literal sense during periods of minority government) was made up of the CCF/NDP and the Social Credit parties.