Coalition Governments in Canadian Politics

    Currently, in Canada, we have a do-nothing, minority Conservative Government which appears determined not to do anything until it can form a majority government; a position the Canadian public, thankfully, has to-date been unwilling to give them. What we are left with is a continuously unstable parliament in which the governing party will not take major action and the various opposition parties cannot effectively take action. This situation will not change until we get leaders who have the maturity and genuine public interest it takes to work in coalition with a majority of the elected Members of Parliament, rather than serving only their own selfish and narrowly-defined party interests. Whatever his drawbacks (and I suspect they are far fewer than Harper's), Michael Ignatieff at least has the proven ability and willingness to form and work with a coalition government of all of the opposition parties.

    Rather than deriding him for this ability and fear-mongering about coalition, as Harper and his cronies have been doing, we should be praising Ignatieff and the other opposition party leaders for showing just the kind of maturity and co-operative spirit that leads to good, effective parliamentary action in service of Canadians, rather than of the agenda of any single party. Let's be very careful, as concerned Canadian voters, not to forget that our parliamentary, party-based system of government has the ability to form coalition government deliberately built-in. It is our last defense, other than through armed insurrection, against our own bad government. Michaelle Jean did Canada no favour in granting Harper a 'stay-of-execution' late last year.

    In order to form a coalition government, a majority of the duly elected members of Parliament must come together with the intention of working co-operatively with each other to govern the nation. What else is any majority governing party than just that? A coalition government, given our current party breakdown in Canadian politics, cannot consist, as our current Conservative government does, of a minority of those elected members. A coalition government is, thereby, far more democratic and inclusive in its makeup and in its actions. Let us as Canadians reject the Conservatives' fear-mongering about the other Members of Parliament elected by Canadians to represent them. A coalition government may not be as un-defeatable as a majority government, but that can be seen as a good thing, requiring that our governance be based on a more inclusive cross-section of the wishes and expectations of Canadians. I recommend that we embrace the concept of a coalition government as much to be preferred over any minority government and over some majority governments that we have had in the past or may have in the future.