Constituency Influence in Parliament: Countering the Centre

Canadas parliamentary system has been characterized as executive-dominant, with governance focused on the centre, and scholars have paid little attention to the legislature and its members. Constituency Influence in Parliament illuminates how MPs, in their pursuit of various goals in the legislature, play an important representative role in shaping policy.

This critical volume offers the first full-scale examination of the rules and conduct of parliamentary Private Members Business and of the electoral and policy motivations of those who hold the countrys highest elected office. Kelly Blidook offers a thought-provoking assessment of the representational and policy dynamics that exist within the Canadian institutional structure. His examination of what MPs do, why they do it, and what effect it has, resurrects the relevance of Canadas Parliament.