Tuition Policy Choices and Party Politics in Canadian Provinces, 1990 – 2015

Despite a considerable amount of political activity, policy experimentation, and public attention, most notably manifested in the Maple Spring in Quebec, the factors influencing policy decisions of Canadian provincial political parties and governments are largely unknown. Drawing on the conceptual body of literature in the policy sciences and using comparative approaches, this exploratory paper contributes new insights into how, and with what effect, do provincial parties and provincial governments respond to changing political, economic, social, and educational conditions with decisions to implement major tuition policy change.