It's the way you tell it: Conflicting narratives in the 2011, 2015, and 2019 Canadian Federal Elections

Abstract

This chapter develops a narrative-based model for political communication in election campaigns. It also demonstrates how narrative analysis enhances our understanding of the essential role of the party leader in election campaigns. Political parties develop a heroic fable about the relationship between their leader and the electorate and an ironic fable about the relationship between the leader(s) of their opponent(s) and the electorate. This model was conceptualized during the 2011 Canadian federal election and applied to English-language political advertisements posted online by the three major parties in the 2015 Canadian federal election. The narrative characteristics of the ads (fable employed, narrating voice, background music, and basic visual tonality) demonstrated significant differences among the three parties' narrative strategies. YouTube view counts were used to determine the effectiveness of individual ads as well as the overall campaigns. The chapter speculated about the fables the parties would employ in the 2019 federal election.