Inside the Big Blue Machine ― How Tory Campaigns Transformed Canadian Public Affairs

An inside account of the Progressive Conservative’s campaign organization.

The Progressive Conservative Party’s “big blue machine” pioneered techniques that centralized campaign control, tied media communications and political advertising to values-based opinion polling, shifted media focus onto tightly orchestrated leader’s tours, standardized party look and policy messages, and reinvented partisan fundraising through direct solicitation from a broad base of donors. J. Patrick Boyer’s behind-the-scenes account reveals how and why Progressive Conservative campaign innovations (most imported from the U.S.) transformed techniques of political control, communications, advertising, polling, policy, and fund-raising until the “blue machine” backroom operations transformed Canadian politics forever.

Patrick’s direct experience in these changes, and interviews with key players from Tory backrooms, enrich this authentic and timely account. His account of the formidable campaign organization operating inside the Progressive Conservative Party for more than four decades shows why the big blue machine became a Canadian political legend.

J. Patrick Boyer is a constitutional lawyer, political science professor, veteran of the House of Commons, journalist, and author of some twenty books on Canadian history, law, politics, and governance. He also frequently comments on Canadian public affairs for various media outlets. Patrick lives in Muskoka and Toronto.