The Attitudinal and Behavioural Correlates of Engagement with Ethnocultural Media at the Local Level: A Case Study of Mississauga and Vancouver

Employing Canadian Municipal Election Study (2018) survey data, this paper examines the majority-minority cities of Vancouver and Mississauga to assess whether there is a correlation between engagement with ethnocultural media and local political participation of immigrant and ethnic electors, who are known to participate at comparatively low rates. This paper asks, first, what are the sociodemographic correlates of those who engage with ethnocultural media? Second, what association is there between engagement with ethnocultural media and local political attitudes and behaviours of interest, efficacy, knowledge, and turnout. The results show that age, education, language, immigrant status, and race correlate with engagement. As well, when individuals consume high levels of ethnocultural media, they are more likely to be interested in and feel a greater sense of efficacy towards local politics. Furthermore, knowledge of local politics alone is shown not to correlate with engagement, and that such engagement has no relationship with turnout.