Parliamentary Bookshelf: Reviews.

• Date: 22 December 2020
• Author: Haig, Elizabeth

Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada by Alex Marland, UBC Press: Vancouver, 2020, 480 pages

Alex Marland's newest book, Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada, takes a fresh look at the phenomenon of party discipline in Canada's parliaments. The book focuses mainly on the post-2000 Internet age, and even delves into the dynamics of recent events such as the 2019 SNC-Lavalin affair and partisan operations under the COVID-19 crisis. It is a fresh addition to the study of Canadian politics, written in a clear and accessible tone yet rife with diligent detail and sharp analysis.

Having conducted interviews with 131 people, including current and former politicians ranging from backbenchers to ministers, staffers, whips and leaders, Marland has created a broad and diverse sample from which to examine the trends in Canadian democracy. (1) As Marland explains, although party discipline is a daily reality in politics, it is not one often on display in the public eye, as much of the practices it entails happen behind closed doors: in caucus meetings, in cryptic emails, or just through the pressure of decades of tradition. (2)...