The major federal political parties also have branches in the provinces where they run for provincial election. There are also several parties that exist at the provincial level only. To find their most current documents, whether internal (constitution, policy resolutions, etc.) or public documents (election platforms, campaign material, etc.) see their web sites. You may also have to contact them or visit their headquarters to request access to some documents. Older materials may only be found by searching AMICUS: the National Library union catalogue, the larger libraries in each province, or in special collections and archives. The following are examples of provincial political party documents and their finding aids:

Provincial and Territorial Political Party Web Sites. By Elections Canada.
The Chief Electoral Officer's web site in each province and territory maintains the official list of registered political parties in their province/territory , with contact information and a link to their web sites. The Elections Canada site above links to each of these. (New and unregistered parties, those who do not intend to run for election or do not yet have the support or funds to do so may be listed in some of the many other, non-official collections of political party web sites on the Internet.)

To Search Library Catalogues:
Search by party name as "Author". Key individuals, party leaders, etc. may also have authored documents. The political party may also be catalogued as the publisher. Common subject headings for documents produced by political parties include:

[party name] -- platforms (e.g. Green Party of British Columbia -- platforms)
campaign literature -- [province]
campaign literature, [year] -- [party name]
platforms -- [party name]
political campaigns -- [province] -- [city]

Note that much of a party's platform or policies may only be accessible via the media -- policy statements published in newspapers, speeches taped on television or radio, etc. Use all resources required to find these different types of materials. See the: "What was Said", "Recorded Images", "News Sources" sections of this guide.

Some examples of political party documents and collections:

Alberta New Democrats fonds. 1944-1993. Provincial Archives of Alberta. Description.
Convention '72. Toronto: New Democratic Party of Ontario, 1972. 32 p.
The History of New Brunswick Provincial Election Campaigns and Platforms, 1866-1974: With Primary Source Documents on Microfiche. Calvin Woodward. Toronto: Micromedia, 1976. 89 p. +7 microfiche.
Liberal, Take a Closer Look: Platform of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador. St. John's, NL: The Party, 2003. 109 p. http://www.takeacloserlook.ca/Platform/Platform.pdf.
Municipal Campaigning. By Mike Cassidy. Toronto: Ontario NDP Municipal Committee. Rev. ed. 1985. 31 p.
Prairie Populist. Archives Society of Alberta. http://142.244.48.13/prairiepopulism/. A searchable collection of digitized primary sources including many political pamphlets from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Proposals for Property Tax and Municipal Finance Reform. Policy and Resolutions Committee, Task Force on Municipal Affairs, Toronto: Ontario NDP, 1980. 11 p.
Time-tables of Progress: Social Credit Government Manifesto for the 60's. Social Credit Party (BC) Campaign Committee, 1963. 16 p.

Government Publications: (Royal Commission reports, task force reports, government department and agency reports, policy papers, legislative documents, law and court reports)

Royal Commissions and Related Reports:

The reports of royal commissions and commissions of inquiry can be a treasure-trove of research materials. Some sample titles and finding aids:

See the description of task force reports in Part 5: Selected Primary Sources in the main part of this guide. Note that special committees may also function as task forces. While task forces are struck to study all kinds of issues for which the government is responsible (e.g. education, housing, economic development, etc.) the following are some examples of task force reports on provincial and local government:

See Finding Government Information for links to provincial government web sites, their publications pages, catalogues, and tips for finding government publications in general. Selected key documents available from most provincial/territorial governments include several financial documents: budgets, fiscal updates, estimates (the government's financial plan), public accounts (audited financial statements of all departments, agencies and commissions), and Auditor General Reports). The latest versions of these will most often be found on the province's Finance Department and Auditor General's web sites, with earlier information in research libraries in the relevant province.

Most provincial government agencies, boards, commissions and departments or ministries also publish an annual report listing their activities, accomplishments and some financial information for the year. The latest of these are usually available on each individual department's web site under a "Publications" heading.

The Ministry responsible for Local Government in each province and territory publishes financial statistics and other information on its municipalities. (See Clarifying - General Facts & Figures for links to these Ministries.)

The Chief Electoral Office in each province publishes annual reports on elections and the financial contributions and expenses of registered political parties in the province. (See Clarifying - General Facts & Figures for links to Official Elections Sites.)

Research commissioned by or published by the provincial/territorial governments may take the form of Royal Commissions, Commissions of Inquiry, or task force reports (mentioned above), legislative committee reports (see Legislative Documents below), or reports by consultants and others. Some examples:

See Policy Papers in the main Primary Sources section of this guide for tips on identifying and finding policy papers. (Note: Substitute the province or city name for "Canada" in the subject headings given.) Some examples of provincial/territorial and muncipal government policy papers:

Committee Reports: Standing committees exist on important topics of ongoing concern in both provincial legislatures and municipal governments. These are independent of the related departments and include members of both the governing party and others. Special Committees are appointed to look into specific issues and are usually disbanded once they submit their report. Most committees prepare reports on issues under study, hearing testimony from experts and others from government staff and the public, to make recommendations to government. Their studies and reports can be very useful research material.

NOTE: Interest groups and government bodies may submit briefs to committees informing them of the impact of proposed legislation on their group or to lobby for particular changes. These briefs may be found as part of the committee minutes, on the group's or committee's web site, or in library catalogues by authoring body.

Other Legislative Documents: See "What was Said" (above) for details on Debates, Council minutes, and the minutes or proceedings of legislative and Council committees. See "Law & Legislation" (below) for bylaws and other legislation.

Finding Aids:
Journals. For provincial committee reports and other legislative papers (sessional papers), check the Journals (the official record of what goes on in the Legislative Assembly) for the time period relevant to your research.
Reference Guide to Alberta Government Committees, 1905-1980. By Karen Powell. Edmonton: Alberta Legislature Library, 1982. 159 p.
Saskatchewan Royal Commission and Committee Reports, 1945-1978. Regina: Saskatchewan Legislative Library, 1980.
Select Committees of the Assemblies of the Provinces of Upper Canada, Canada and Ontario, 1792 to 1991: A Checklist of Reports. Comp. and ed. by Richard Sage and Aileen Weir. Toronto: Ontario Legislative Library, 1992. 431 p.
Select Committees of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, 1867-1978: A Checklist of Reports. By Eleanor Barnes. Toronto: Legislative Library, 1983. 8 p.

Charest, Jean. My Road to Québec. (French title: J'ai choisi le Québec.) Saint-Laurent: QC: Editions P. Tisseyre, 1998. 235 p.

WAC Bennett Fonds. Simon Fraser University Archives. Description: http://aabc.bc.ca/access/aabc/archbc/display/SFU-66

City archives collect the records created by their municipal government and those created by city officials, and can contain some of their personal papers as well. Politicians may also donate some of their personal papers to other local archives, often university archives or other special collections.

See also the main Primary Sources section of this guide for other tips on finding archival material.

See also the Provincial Archives and Archives Canada Gateway linked to in the introduction at the beginning of this section. Some provincial archives' web sites include searchable film/video collections or other finding aids. For example:

Photographs:

See the main Part 5: Primary Sources--Recorded Images--Photographs for the major sources, such as Images Canada, for finding photographs.

Information on what is going on in provincial political parties (upcoming conventions, riding or constituency association events, and during elections, candidates' and leaders'campaign schedules, etc.) and how to get involved is best obtained directly from the party web site or your local provincial riding association. Political party web sites usually have the top news stories related to the party, news releases, podcasts, RSS feeds, electronic newsletters to which you can subscribe, etc. Some also have links to their candidates' or party members' web sites, blogs and facebook pages. There are also suggestions for how to join, donate, volunteer, etc. Use the following list for contact information for provincial parties and their constituency associations, including links to web sites where available.
Note: Municipal government is not based on a party system. Individual candidates for municipal government positions may create web sites to get themselves and their views known while campaigning.

For links to provincial and municipal government and related News Sources see Finding & Evaluating -- Current Events/News. For information on how to get involved, see the web sites of key government departments and agencies which will have information on the latest events, consultations, hearings, Council meetings, etc., and instructions or advice for participants. For example: