Alex Marland
Department of Political Science, Memorial University

Despite the promise of sunny ways, message control in Canadian politics and government did not disappear when Justin Trudeau replaced Stephen Harper as Canada’s prime minister. This talk summarizes the many positive initiatives by the new Liberal government to reduce message control, explains what tactics the Liberals don’t want us to know about, and why centralized control will creep back over time. It concludes with a lively Q&A discussion about what else needs to be done to limit partisan control over Canadian democratic government.

Bio:

Alex Marland is a leading expert on the study of political marketing in Canada. His forthcoming book, “Brand Command: Canadian Politics and Democracy in the Age of Message Control” (UBC Press, March 2016) peels back the curtain on communication practices in Canadian politics and the federal government. Dr. Marland is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean of Arts at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He is co-editor of the UBC Press series Communication, Strategy and Politics.