Selecting a leader is a momentous and defining choice for a political party. Leaders symbolize their party and are a primary factor in election outcomes. While much is known about the selection of national party leaders, less is known about the provincial selection process, particularly in the Maritimes. Breaking new ground, Conventional Choices examines twenty-five different leadership elections in three maritime provinces. The analysis draws on an extraordinarily rich data set spanning thirty-two years to explore the backgrounds, attitudes, and motivations of those who select party leaders. It is an impressive study that offers fresh insights into leadership selection and Maritime party politics.

Ian Stewart PhD, taught at both Queen's and UBC before joining the department of political science at Acadia University for 32 years. He is now retired after authoring 30 articles on Canadian politics. He also wrote or co-wrote Roasting Chestnuts: The Mythology of Maritime Political Culture (UBC Press, 1995), The Savage Years: The Perils of Reinventing Politics in Nova Scotia (with Peter Clancy, James Bickerton and Rodney Haddow, Lorimer, 2000), Conventional Choices: Maritime Leadership Politics (UBC Press, 2007) and Just One Vote: From Jim Walding's Nomination to Constitutional Defeat (University of Manitoba Press, 2009). Conventional Choices was short-listed for the Donald Smiley Prize for the best book on Canadian politics in 2008, and Just One Vote was short-listed for the Margaret McWilliams for best book on Manitoba history and for the Donald Smiley Prize for the best book in Canadian politics in 2010. Ian Stewart and his wife Audrey live in Greenwich, Nova Scotia.

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• Short-listed, Donald Smiley Book Prize, Canadian Political Science Association