The Big Blue Machine

A tale of politics from the inside out, Inside the Big Blue Machine: How Tory Campaign Backrooms Changed Canadian Politics Forever is the story of a formidable campaign organization that ran a string of winning Progressive Conservative Party leadership campaigns, as well as federal and provincial campaigns in a half-dozen provinces over four decades.

Operated by highly specialized individuals, the “Big Blue Machine” pioneered new techniques in polling, advertising, fundraising, communications, and policy development. It not only redefined how Canadian election campaigns are waged, but in the process transformed the conduct of Canadian public life itself. This book dissects this little-understood aspect of Canadian history from inside the operation, exposing the psychology of political campaigning from the perspective of the people who made it happen.