It bears noting that I vote in a parliamentary monarchy, not a republic. I do not have the opportunity to vote for my Head of State, nor for my Head of Government.
As a result, party is hugely iimportant for electoral decision making in this country--when I cast a vote for a local MP, I am, at the same time, endorsing that candidate's choice for who she or he will support to form a government. It has been said that a good constituency candidate can make a difference of 1,000 votes in a typical Canadian riding. With a very few exceptions, party is all when it comes to Canadian elections.
But if I could cast a direct ballot for our Head of Government, party would still be a major factor in my political calculus. Political leaders do not exist within a bubble populated only by their own individual beliefs. They are responsive to stakeholders: funders, political supporters, media and the like. The candidate from the conservative party is going to have a different set of stakeholders than the candidate from the progressive party, who will have a different set in turn from the canadidate from the centrist party.
That framework of udnerstanding is coloured, however, by the individual candidate's personal characteristics, much of which will be gleaned from news reporting.
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--James
29 Jul 2011, 12:16 pm
