The New Politics of Western Canada: Contested Histories, Uncertain Futures - Paperback

by Charles Smith (Editor), Tom McIntosh (Editor)

A study of Western Canada's complex identity and politics.

The Canadian West: an economic engine with a history of grievance against federal power emanating from the east. The New Politics of Western Canada grapples with the West's complex, multifaceted past to promote a better understanding of this vast region's political realities and the challenges that lie ahead.

Contributors re-examine the historical and contemporary meanings attached to "the West" as a form of identity, through themes such as colonialism, gender, and class. They develop a nuanced analysis of Western political ideology, from resentment-based populism to the regional left. They explore pressing Western economic and policy concerns, such as labor, healthcare, and Indigenous democratic participation and protest.

Together, these themes provide intelligent, new ways of interpreting underexplored aspects of Western Canadian politics, adding depth to earlier attempts to explain the region as a political, economic, or sociological space.

Author Biography

Charles Smith is professor of political studies at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan. He is co-editor of Transforming Provincial Politics: The Political Economy of Canada's Provinces and Territories in the Neoliberal Era and coauthor of Unions in Court: Organized Labour and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Tom McIntosh is professor of politics and international studies at the University of Regina and a researcher at the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit. He has published nine books on Canadian politics.