A brief description of the Chair
The Canada Research Chair in Municipal Elections focuses on municipal representative democracy in Quebec and Canada. It focuses in particular on three dimensions: 1) low voter turnout; 2) an electoral offer that is difficult to understand; and 3) issues that are not very visible. It puts these three aspects into dialogue in order to comprehend their causes and possible impacts on the political choices made by potential voters, declared candidates and elected officials alike. It explores the construction and circulation of municipal issues and highlights the specific features of municipal politics in Canadian cities.
Focus 1: Voter choices
This focus aims to capture the voter’s choices by examining the nature of the elements that guide these choices, depending in particular (but not exclusively) on the information available to him or her and the presence or absence of a non-partisan context.
Focus 2: The choices of declared and elected candidates
This section looks at the choices made by candidates and elected officials in developing and implementing their candidacies and platforms. It does so mainly from an apolitical angle, in other words, one in which candidates, elected officials and political parties are not positioned along a left-right axis.
Focus 3: Municipal issues
The aim of this section is to identify the players involved in formulating electoral issues, to examine how these issues are structured, and to assess the extent to which they can change the outcome of an election, or even the positioning of voters, candidates and elected representatives.
Le dictionnaire politique de la scène municipale québécoise
A digital version of this book, edited by Sandra Breux and Anne Mévellec (2024), will be available on this website in 2026.