The political ecology of representation in English Canada: M.P.'s and their constituencies

The purpose of this paper, is to explore the constituency connection in the process of parliamentary representation in Canada. While the focus is on developing an ecological perspective on the practice of representation in Canada, it should be clear from the outset that environmental influences are hypothesized to complement, rather than supplant, the effects of factors identified as important by the structural, interactionist, and motivational approaches. The paper aims to broaden our understanding of constituency representation in Canada by identifying the contribution of a generally neglected set of influences. To capture more fully the diversity of constituency settings and member characteristics as they potentially affect representational roles and activities, this study adopted a less qualitative, variable-based as opposed to case-based, research design. For this purpose, two sources of information are employed. First, backbench members of Parliament were sent a mail questionnaire which posed a series of questions regarding their perceptions of their constituency, their representational roles, and allocation of resources. Altogether, 271 questionnaires were mailed in November 1996 to all backbenchers. While most members (69 percent) were elected for the first time in 1993, all recipients of the questionnaire would have had at least three years' experience as representatives upon which to reflect when responding to the questions.