Money and Votes in Canada: Campaign Spending and Parliamentary Election Outcomes, 1984 and 1988

The role of campaign spending in determining patterns of party support in Canadian federal elections is incompletely understood. While commendable in applying appropriate estimation techniques, most extant research at the federal level has relied on models that are seriously underspecified. This paper attempts to assess the impact of spending on party support at the 1984 and 1988 federal elections in Canada by developing multivariate models that incorporate a range of socio-demographic and political variables. The results offer convincing confirmation for arguments that campaign spending by local parties contributes significantly to explaining patterns of voter support.