High Discipline, Low Cohesion? The Uncertain Patterns of Canadian Parliamentary Party Groups

The Canadian House of Commons has very disciplined parties even by

Westminster standards. Yet Canadian parties are traditionally notable for

ideological heterogeneity in both their parliamentary party groups (known

as ‘caucuses’) and wider membership. This traditional pattern of high

discipline but limited ideological cohesion has been partly challenged in the

1990s by new parties, but remains strong. The relationship between party

discipline and party cohesion remains contested in the legislative literature

and the Canadian case presents an unusual situation of tightly disciplined

but ideologically heterogeneous parties.