Picture of  John C. Courtney

John C. Courtney PhD, MA, BA, DLitt, MBA Honourary Lifetime Policy Fellow

Honourary Lifetime Policy Fellow, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University Saskatchewan; Professor Emeritus, College of Arts and Science, Department of Political Studies

Address
Rm 153.1, 101 Diefenbaker Place, Saskatoon, S7N 5B8

Areas of Interest

  • Canadian and comparative: parties and elections
  • Electoral reform
  • Electoral systems
  • Franchise
  • Voter registration
  • Electoral administration
  • Boundary readjustments
  • Redistribution and redistricting
  • Leadership conventions

Recent Grants/Awards

Recent Awards: (last decade only)

  • Canada-US Fulbright Scholarship, 2008.
  • Celebrated Alumni Award, Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba, 2007.
  • Province of Saskatchewan Centennial Medal, 2006.
  • University of Saskatchewan Students’ Union Teaching Excellence Award, 2002.
  • University of Saskatchewan’s Distinguished Researcher Award, 2001.

Recent Research Funding: (last decade only)

  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Standard Research Grants, 2004-07 and 2001-04

Select Publications

Books (last decade only)

  • Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), co-editor David E. Smith.  558. pp.
  • Elections: Canadian Democratic Audit  (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2004). 210 pp.
  • Commissioned Ridings: Designing Canada’s Electoral Districts (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press 2001). [Short-listed for the Best Scholarly Work Award, Saskatchewan Book Awards, 2001].  337 pp.

Chapters (2009-2011 only)

  • “Can Canada’s Past Electoral Reforms Help to Understand the Debate over its Method of Election?” in Richard Simeon and Patti Tamara Lenard (eds.), Imperfect Democracies: The Democratic Deficit in Canada and the United States        (Vancouver: UBC Press, forthcoming 2011). 37 ms. pp.
  • “The Conundrum of Electoral Districting in Canada,” in Randall Morck (ed.), Recreating Canada: Essays in Honour of Paul Weiler (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, forthcoming 2011). 117-135.
  • “Elections,” in Bill Cross (ed.), Canada’s Democratic Audit (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010). 118-142.
  • “Transformation of an Unnatural Country,”  (co-author David E. Smith), Oxford Handbook of Canadian Politics(New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 3-17.
  • “Forty and Counting,” in Heather MacIvor (ed.), Election (Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2009).  7-21.

 Refereed Articles and Encyclopedia Entries (last decade only)

  • “Districting,” The Encyclopedia of Political Science.  George Thomas Kurian (ed). (Washington DC: CQ Press and SAGE Publications, 2010).  3 ms. pp.
  • “Leadership Convention,” “Hansard,” “James G. Gardiner,” “Elections,” “The Franchise,” “Closure,” and “The Speaker.” The New Canadian Encyclopedia/Historica Canada. on-line:http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCESearch&Params=A1
  • “Redistricting: What can the United States Learn from Canada?” Election Law Journal. #3 (2004), 488-500.
  • Nine entries (“Closure,” “Disallowance,” “Filibuster,” “Franchise,” “Ombudsman,” “Orders-in-Council,” “Parliamentary Democracy,” “Referendum,” “Royal Commissions,” Oxford Companion to Canadian History(Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2004), 135,181, 221, 235-36, 461-62, 465, 473-74, 535-36, and 554-55.  [Co-author Daniel Macfarlane].
  • "Reapportionment and Redistricting," in Richard Rose (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Elections(Washington: Congressional Quarterly Books, 2000), 258-62.
  •  Eight entries ("Closure," "Elections," "Franchise," "Gardiner, J.G.," "Hansard," "House of Commons," "Leadership Conventions," and "Speaker") The Canadian Encyclopedia, [clothe cover and CD-ROM] (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1997 and 2000).

Non-Refereed Articles (2007-2009)           

National and International Consulting Reports (last decade only)

  • Principles and Essence of Boundary Delimitation: From Theory to Practice.  Report prepared for the UNDP and Institute for Education in Democracy Conference on Electoral Reforms for Kenya.  Presented 13 August 2009, Nairobi, Kenya. 10 pp. 
  • Assessment of la Corte Nacional Electoral (CNE) de Bolivia: Voter Registration Processes and Register of Electors.  Report co-authored with Lorne Gibson, Chief Electoral Officer of Alberta.  Prepared for Deployment for Democratic Development Program of Canadian International Development Agency, Ottawa.  November, 2008, 26 pp.
  • Election-time Voter Enumerations: Strengths and Weaknesses. Report presented to Voter Registration and List Management: Best Practices Conference of Federal and Provincial Election Officials.  Victoria, British Columbia, 12-16 March 2007.  16 pp.
  • Effective Representation, Community of Interest, and Electoral Boundary Readjustments in Canada.  Report presented to British Columbia Electoral Boundaries Commission, 17 May 2006.  18 pp.

Interviews on Canadian, Provincial, American Politics and Election Evening Panelist:

  • CBC radio and television; Radio Canada International, CBC NEWSWORLD, CBC THE NATIONAL NEWS, CTV, BNN, BBC-TV, WGBH-TV (Boston), ABC News with Sam Donaldson, BBC World Report (Washington D.C.), and Monitor-TV; several Canadian and foreign newspapers including The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Toronto Star, The New York Times, The Western Producer, and Canadian Press; magazines including Maclean's, Time, Alberta Report, and Harvard's International Review.  Op-ed articles published in The Globe and Mail, The Financial Post, The National Post, The Winnipeg Free Press, and The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon).

Current Research

  • Canadian and comparative electoral districting
  • Electoral reform
  • Political parties
  • Party conventions
  • Political leadership
  • Political representation
  • Canadian government and politics
  • Saskatchewan politics