Some politicians are already grumbling about not being able to hammer signs into frozen ground, having to sprint from warm cars to knock on doors in sub-zero temperatures and facing a long, drawn-out election campaign over the holidays.
These petty inconveniences should be the least of their worries.
Canadians are facing an indefinite future of frequent campaigns in all kinds of weather — not to mention a major democratic crisis.
Polls indicate support for the main parties today more or less matches the result of the 2004 contest.
The 2006 election will invariably end up with a minority government struggling to gain control over the policy agenda in the Commons, leaving Canadians in the same frustrating position as before — having a government with no strong mandate to govern, leading to an “unmemorable” Parliament and, very likely, another quick election.
This is not what Canadians are used to.
Canada was ruled by “democratic dictatorships” from 1979 to 2004. Majority governments were formed under our “first-past-the-post” system, where parties could have as little as 38 per cent of the popular vote and hold a commanding number of seats.
While not being representative of the electorate (as about 60 per cent of votes cast were basically thrown away), this system has allowed the formation of strong majority governments to implement its policy agendas.
Not so in the last election when the 25-year period of stability came to an abrupt end. Ballots cast reflected gaping regional divides between three of the four major parties. The Conservatives won the West, the Liberals maintained a stronghold in Ontario and the Bloc continued to dominate Quebec.
These divides are not going to disappear overnight. There is no national party that will be able to breach the Bloc’s popular support in Quebec any time soon.
To become a democracy representative of its citizens’ diverse needs, our politicians will have to swallow their collective pride and form coalition governments made up of two or more parties.
The idea of coalitions may offend Canadian convention — as one has never been formed federally in peacetime — but they are the norm across much of Europe, Germany and Switzerland being among the countries with a history of post-war coalition governance.
They are also a fact of life in many other countries, like New Zealand, Israel, Turkey, and even in the world’s largest democracy, India, which is ruled by a government composed of 14 parties.
Here, it is much more likely we would see a two-party coalition form between the Liberals and the NDP. A coalition would see the two parties share a cabinet and caucus, and work together to create legislation.
Politicians claim they are drawn to a life of public service to represent their constituents’ wishes and work for the good of the country.
It’s time they actualized this lofty ideal and came in out of the cold.
— Jennifer Copestake