movements such as the women’s and the gay and lesbian rights movements will illustrate how the various political parties have reacted differently in addressing these concerns. These differences will demonstrate how certain parties are more open in addressing these public policy issues than others. This split among political parties will account for their rise and fall in parliamentary representation and the alleged decline of the current Canadian political party system.

There have been many criticisms of the alleged decline but it is apparent that there are conflicting views among academics as to why this trend is occurring. For example, Lyon presents the view that parties are solely to blame for their decline. He claims that parties interfere with political expression by inhibiting political participation. In addition, parties are also a major barrier to representative democracy because their desire to dominate leads them to discourage thoughtful responsible citizenship. Conversely, Nevitte argues that the change in political life in Canada is not solely because of the political parties themselves, but rather the changing views and interests of the electorate. Nevitte asserts that Canadians are flinching from the complexity of the political world and are simply becoming preoccupied with other aspects of life. Despite the numerous conflicting explanations causing the decline, there is a general agreement that citizens have strayed from political parties in seeking political representation. As a result, other collective political forces, such as social movements, have emerged to represent interests, voice concerns and demand redress .

Since one of the main goals of democratic political parties is to foster national unity, supporting movements that promote gender, racial and other forms of equality merely enhances democracy. Thus, in Canada, the acceptance of social movements by political parties has led to a greater tolerance of social differences and has promoted greater inclusion of diverse groups. The prime example of how a social movement has transformed the political arena is the women’s movement.

The women’s moment clearly demonstrated how a group of collective actors united to voice their concerns because political parties were not addressing their issues. The movement revealed that certain parties’ representation capacities can be challenged and that parties’ discourses and practices can indeed be changed. For the Liberals and the NDP, this movement showed their openness to an issue that affects half of the electorate, whereas the Conservatives and the Reform Party ultimately disregarded these issues.

To understand the relationship between political parties and social movements, one must first define their functions and explain their roles in relation to the political system in Canada. According to Meisel, the function of the Canadian party system is to create a national consensus on the broad pu

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