This book is about the collapse of Canadian party politics in the early 1990s, about the end of a party system that had governed Canada's national politics for several decades, and about the ongoing struggle to build its successor.

This important contribution to the study of Canadian elections forcefully argues that knowledge of the dynamics at the local level is essential to a full understanding of Canadian polity, its underlying social basis, and the factors that determine successful election campaigns.

Compares the 34th (1988-93) and the 35th (1993-97) Parliaments, where, despite major electoral shifts, the majority of the men and women who go to Ottawa end up accepting limited policy roles, effecting only minor shifts in government.

A unique and innovative study, Roasting Chestnuts seeks to demystify Maritime politics and expose the flimsy basis for many of the region's lasting political stereotypes.

The first systematic account of party activists at the provincial level in Canada.