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Western Canadian populism : reflections on the Turner thesis and Canada

University of British Columbia

Frederick Jackson Turner’s influential Frontier Thesis has been widely applied in the United States to explain the development of America’s democratic and individualistic political culture. Despite Canada’s North American location, colonial heritage, and sprawling geography, the Frontier Thesis failed to take root in the collective imagination of early Canadians. However, as the economic influence of the Canadian west has shifted, so too has the relevance of Turner’s thesis for Canada. This paper asserts that political developments in 19th, 20th, and 21st century western Canada can be explained, at least in part, through an application of the Frontier Thesis. I begin by comparing Turner’s argument to the works of Harold Innis and J.M.S. Careless to illustrate why the frontier had a greater effect on 19th century America than 19th century Canada. The results of this comparison illustrate the need for a reconsideration of the frontier’s relevance in the Canadian west. I argue that, although Canada’s early western political culture was dominated by European influences, historical and geographical factors ultimately facilitated the emergence of western Canadian populism.

Text

2012-08-31

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43142

Political Science

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/