We are in the era of minority governments

In 2003, the Progressive Conservative and Reform parties merged to become one united Conservative Party of Canada. Since that time, there have been seven federal elections, but only two of them resulted in majority governments. Think about that. Five of the last seven elections have ended with minority governments.

Overall, in Canadian history, minority governments are relatively rare. Between 1867 and 2000, only 10 of the 37 elections held produced minorities. But it is fair to say that has changed, and we now live in an era when Canadians are not only used to living with a minority government, they prefer one.

The question is, do our federal parties and their politicians get that? If they do, finally, it could be a good and optimistic sign for the new minority government elected this week. If they don’t, it’s going to be another ugly session of Parliament, and we could find ourselves within 18 months to two years back where we are now. Presumably, most of us agree that would not be our preference.

Instead, we would prefer our government be collaborative enough to survive and make sensible, ethical and pragmatic public policy to help the country get through this pandemic and get on the road to the robust recovery we all long for.

It is not surprising that political parties, especially the two that have experienced recent majority mandates — Liberals and Conservatives — prefer majorities. To oversimplify the point, but only slightly, a majority means life for the party in government will be much easier than a minority situation. They have more control over what happens, they can pass legislation with or without opposition support and they have more control over the work of subcommittees, to cite just three examples.

Minority governments mean the governing party has to share control of much of Parliament’s work. It can’t make as many arbitrary decisions against the wishes of opposition members. It can’t pass legislation without support from at least one opposition party, and it regularly faces the risk of a nonconfidence vote, which means the government has lost the confidence of the House of Commons, and an election is the most likely outcome of that.

Fair enough. Who chooses the path of more resistance if they have a shot at an easier path? But we submit they need to get used to the more challenging road, because Canadians have sent a very clear message: Get to work, work well with others, share responsibility and credit and, above all, collaborate.

You know, collaborate. As in work with others even if you don’t agree with them from a partisan perspective. Respect their input and differing opinions, and work together toward a collaborative outcome that results in positive governance. Not just positive for the government, positive for the people of the nation.

You might argue that the government sets the tone and therefore has most of the responsibility for creating a culture of collaboration. That’s true to a point. But opposition parties have a major role to play. In the waning days of the last Parliament, for example, the Opposition Conservatives worked tirelessly to thwart government legislation, regardless of the nature and potential benefit. A result was some bills died on the table. Partisans would call that victory, whereas collaborative leaders, and we would argue most Canadians, call it putting narrow partisan interests above good governance.

Good government is not a hockey game where one team must win and one lose. It’s more like everyone checking their egos at the door and working together to get the job done. Can these politicians and parties actually change to emphasize collaboration? We will soon see.