Legislative priorities and public opinion: representation of partisan agendas in the Canadian House of Commons

Abstract Oral questions are a central feature of the Canadian parliamentary system, and a valuable indication of legislators' issue attentiveness. Here, we consider parties' behaviour in Question Period, with a particular interest in opposition parties' representation of the public's (and publics') issue priorities. We do so using a content analytic database of oral questions covering three Parliaments from 1988 to 1999. We begin with some descriptive analyses of the distribution of oral questions across issues and parties, and then explore what drives parties' attention to issues. Combining the oral questions database with public opinion data, we examine the relationship between the issue priorities of both parties and partisans. In doing so, we examine two different foci of representation: a generalized national constituency, and each party's partisan constituency.