The Political Ecology of Representation in English Canada: M.P.'s and Their Constituencies

Abstract

Introduction: A Political Ecology of Representation? Members of Parliament are at the center of the theory and practice of parliamentary representation in Canada. M.P.'s are expected to perform a variety of roles and activities. These include tasks related to their membership in a parliamentary party caucus, related to their responsibilities as legislators in the House of Commons (committee assignments, policy work, and so on), and tasks done for their constituents. Because of the strength of party discipline in Canada, M.P.'s are given relatively little opportunity to pursue constituents' interests in the formal policy-making process (Kilgour and Kirsner 1989, 36). However, the amount of time M.P.'s are required to spend in formal session in Ottawa has diminished in recent years, with the average sitting time of the House of Commons now being approximately 135 days a year. This creates greater opportunities for members to spend time in their constituencies if they so desire. Shorter sessions provide time that is relatively free of legislative assignments or the party's whip, time which M.P.'s can deploy according to their own preferences and, if they are so inclined, time to cultivate and serve their constituents. Anecdotal evidence from Canadian M.P.'s suggests that constituency service is one of the most satisfying tasks members perform, and that it constitutes an important component of a representative's activities. Miller's informal survey of a number of backbench M.P.'s, for example, found that constituency service accounted for between 50 and 80 percent of their time (Miller 1986, 3); other, more systematic, research suggests somewhat lower figures are the norm (Docherty 1996). Similarly, in their review of published research on the Canadian parliament, for example, Kornberg and Campbell (1978, 565) note that regular consultation with and performance of services for constituents is an important (indeed, probably the most important) dimension of the activities performed by both federal and provincial Members of Parliament. By way of illustration, their firmest expectation for the role of legislator--before they ever take office--is that they will carry out `representative' and `ombudsmen' types of functions. In this respect, Canada appears to parallel the experience of other settings in which representation is constructed around single member districts. In the United States and Britain, for example, the constituency service activities of legislators have historically been, and show signs of becoming increasingly more, important (for American evidence, see Fenno 1978 and Parker 1986; for British evidence, see Norton and Woods 1990, 196-99; 1993; Norton 1994). Relatively little effort has been forthcoming in Canada, however, to document and explain patterns in the constituency service behavior of M.P.'s (for exceptions, see Clarke et al. 1975; Clarke 1978; Halligan et al. 1988; Hoffman 1987; Price and Mancuso 1991. Docherty 1996 also makes a major contribution in this area). Existing work seeking to explain variations in representational styles in other countries tends to emphasize one or some combination of three approaches, labeled structural, interactional, and motivational by Donald Searing (1985, 351; 1994, 10-30). According to Searing, structural approaches focus on the roles that are built into an institution's structure, independent of the personalities of role incumbents. Interactional approaches depict the representation process as involving a series of social negotiations and exchanges that take place between representative and constituents. Motivational approaches, in turn, emphasize the impact of personal goals and institutional incentives in accounting for the adoption of representational roles or styles. Here, the focus is on representatives choosing how to organize themselves as legislators, reflecting such factors as their political ambition, position in the life-cycle, and other primarily personal factors. …