Locating the Growth Paradigm through Canadian Politics

This paper investigates the commitment to growth in Canada, using political platforms to answer two questions: how common is the growth paradigm – which presents economic growth as desirable, imperative, and limitless – across the political spectrum, and, where it appears, how does it work? To answer the first question, the study looked at the political platforms released by four of Canada’s national political parties for the 2025 general federal election to identify policy items that contain at least one element of the growth paradigm. To answer the second question, the research considered the growth paradigm to be a Foucauldian discourse and identified the components of a discursive strategy in each policy item containing an element of the growth paradigm. The study found that the growth paradigm, as it appears in political platforms, was forthright about where and how power would be applied, but comparatively silent about who defines the knowledge about growth. This silence suggests how deeply embedded the growth paradigm is in Canadian politics, but additional research into other election materials might fill that silence for a fuller picture of the growth paradigm’s discursive strategies. Even this partial understanding of how economic growth is normalized and legitimized in policy discussions should give readers the ability to better engage with growth-oriented narratives, fostering more effective dialogue about alternative, non-growth options.

Author dc:creator

• Newman, Robert

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Takach, Geo

• School of communication and culture

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Identifier URI

https://doi.org/10.25316/IR-20468

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10613/28904