Party politics and Canadian municipal goverment

Catholic Times and the Catholic Tablet, all supported the King in varying degrees throughout the crisis. 20. Ironically, as Edward later recalled, the Archbishop of Canterbury hoped to use his coronation "as a sounding board for an emotional call for Christian revival-a 'Recall to Religion'-in which the main theme would be an attack on the growing practice of divorce." (Duke of Windsor, A King's Story, p. 332.) 21. The full text of the broadcast appeared in the London Times, 14 December 1936. 22. The Prime ~Iinister's statement appeared in The Montreal Daily Star, the newspaper that had previously maintained that the Governments of Canada and South Africa had made "singularly vigorous" representations, presumably to Baldwin. 23. Although three decades have passed since the abdication crisis, the British and Dominion Governments have continued to withhold the correspondence relating to the abdication. 24. Editor & Publisher, 12 December 1936. \\'hen Editor & Publisher selected the twelve top news stories of 1936, the abdication of Edward VIII was listed as the number one story - - .\Iussolini's conquest of Ethiopia was eighth on the list and the German remilitarization of the Rhineland \\'as twelfth ( 19 December 1936 ) The Associated Press, United Press, International News Service, and Universal Service also listed Edward's abdication as the top story of the year. ( Editor & Publislzer, 26 December 1936.) 25. A.J.P. Taylor interprets this apparent hypocrisy as "a gesture of atonement and apology" for the manner in which the departed King had been treated. ( Taylor, English History, 1914 - 19V5, p. 403. ) 26. Walter Bagehot, Tlze English Co1Jstit11tion ( Garden City: Doubleday and Co., 187.5 ), p. 94. 27. Bagehot, Tlze Ellglish Constit11tio1J, p. 10.5. 28. Robert Graves and Alan Hodge, The Lollg "TcckEnd ( New York: W. W. Norton and Co., 1940 ), p. 129. Party politics and Canadian municipal goverment1 R. M. PUNNETT The purpose of this paper is to question the often repeated assumption that municipal government in Canada would benefit from a greater participation by the political parties. The relatively minor role that is played by political parties is one of the characteristic features of municipal government in Canada. In this respect, compari46 29. John Kenneth Galbraith, The Scotch ( Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1964 ), p. 85. 30. Duke of Windsor, A King's Story, p. 358. 31. Thomas Jones, A Diary With Letters ( London: Oxford University Press, 1954 ), pp. 163 - 164. 32. Viscount Templewood, Nine Troubled Years, p. 223. 33. Keith Feiling, The Life of Neville Chamberlain, ( London: Macmillan and Co., 1947 ), p. 276. 34. Ronald Blythe, The Age of Illusion ( Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1964 ), p. 195. 35. Iles Brody, Gone With the Windsors ( Philadelphia: John C. Winston Co.), p. 154. 36. In the volatile political atmosphere of the 'thirties, the support of the British Communists, Oswald .\Iosley's Fascists, and the Social Creditors probably damaged the King's cause and reputation in Canada. Even Edward's more respectable supporters, such as Churchill, Lord Beaverbrook, and Lord Rothermcre , were thought hy many to be motivated by political ambition rather than loyalty to the King. 37. .\!any political theorists also make no distinction between tl\e Cro~wn and the :Monarchy. \Vhen Professor K.C. \Vheare defined Dominion Status in a standard work on the Statute of \Vestminster; he came to the conclusion that "an essential element was found to be 'common allegiance to the crown' - and 'the Crown,' it may he assumed, meant the .\Ionarchy." ( K.C. \Vheare, Tlze Statute of \Vestminster and Dominion Status [London: Oxford University Press, 19.53], p. 277.) 38. The Winnipeg Free Press, 4 December 1936. Other Canadian newspapers took a similar position. The London Free Press, for example, stated that "it is vital who shall he his Queen. If there is lack of respect, then it would weaken the Empire because, after all, the chief bond is today the Crown." (7 December 1936.) 39. The Winnipeg Free Press, 4 December 1936. sons are often made with the situation in Britain and the USA, where the political parties are much more active at the municipal level than they are in Canada. In such comparisons, the Canadian situation is generally presented in an unfavourable light, and it is...