Pivot or Pirouette?

The 1993 federal election was in many ways the strangest in Canada’s history. The results were unprecedented: the governing party was reduced to two seats, a separatist party became the official opposition, and a new regional party swept the West. Pivot or Pirouette? covers both the backstory and the aftermath, arguing that although the shocking results seemed pivotal, ultimately the pivot turned into a full pirouette as Canadian politics returned to historical norms. New parties shake up the system but are eventually absorbed into it, bringing innovation but not transformation. You can’t understand modern Canadian politics without understanding the 1993 election.

As a research director for Reform in its foundational period and a key player in the Conservative Party under Stephen Harper, Flanagan is well placed to tell this story. The result is a well-written, first-rate election study.

Tom Flanagan is a professor emeritus in political science at the University of Calgary. His book First Nations? Second Thoughts received the Donner Prize and the Canadian Political Science Association’s Donald Smiley Prize. From 1991 to 2012, he worked for Preston Manning, Stephen Harper, and Danielle Smith in various advisory capacities and as campaign manager. His experiences on the campaign trail are detailed in his book Winning Power: Canadian Campaigning in the Twenty-First Century.