“And what makes most people feel happy, leads us head long into harm…”
Paint a Vulgar Picture – The Smiths 1986
It is entirely likely that Stephen Harper will become the next Prime Minister of Canada. I find that unfortunate. Happily it appears (So far…) that it will be a minority government. (Although that depends on which poll you look at…) He can’t get into too much trouble that way… Can he?
Over Christmas, I had a conversation about the politics involved in a minority government situation with a friend of mine. He quite correctly pointed out some very interesting things.
The first of which is this. There is no real history of supporting minority governments in this country. They tend to last between 6 and 18 months and while they have the potential to accomplish a fair amount (due mostly to the compromises needed to stave off it’s inevitable collapse.) they rarely do.
And the second is this. There is no history of a true coalition government in Canada. Instead of looking at a minority as something to be ripped down, there is an enormous opportunity to hammer out something that works for all parties. It works for the Germans and Italians… why the hell couldn’t it work here in Canada?
No comments:
Post a Comment