Monday, October 21, 2019

Making A Minority Work


It looks like it will be a minority government. And there are a couple of ominous signs in the wind. The first is the divide shaping up on the Ontario-Manitoba border -- Conservatives to the west, Progressives to the east. Perhaps the conservative dominance of the west will end at the B.C. border. The other troubling sign is the resurrection of Quebec nationalism, which -- let's be frank -- never goes away. But, Robin Sears looks to history to prove that minority governments can work:

When Robert Stanfield and Pierre Trudeau went to bed on Oct. 30, 1972 neither knew who had a future as prime minister. In those days, B.C. polls stayed open until 11 p.m. Ottawa time and there were too many seats too close to give a final count. It was also the first election in which 18 to 21-year-olds were allowed to vote, two million of them.
The happiest man that night was David Lewis, the veteran NDP leader, whose “corporate welfare bums” campaign had ignited the party and many voters. The NDP elected the largest caucus in its brief history with 31 MPs — and the balance of power. The Creditistes, the Bloc Québécois of its day, came back with the same 15 seats.
The minority government pact Lewis worked out with Trudeau — and it was very much a personal project between them — with only a few other MPs and staffers invited to offer a view, was a success. It led to the creation of Petro Canada, restrictions on price rises at a time of raging inflation, and Canada’s first election expenses legislation among many other legislative changes. Allan MacEachen, the Liberal sage of Cape Breton, and Stanley Knowles, the pension champion of many a parliament, were the two back-channel leaders who kept the often tense partnership afloat for almost two years.

It was "a more civil time." Things are a lot uglier than they were. But there are three principles which underlie a successful minority government:

The first is that both an agenda and a time frame are essential. The legislative content needs to be agreed up front, and so does the delivery date — to fail to do so makes freelancing and backsliding inevitable.
Second, the project list must be short. A lengthy shopping list lets the bigger party do the easy bits first, and leave the harder important ones too late. The items need to offer some benefit to each partner, and they must matter to Canadians.
Finally, there needs to be a backroom process for managing the relationship, chaired by party elders with a small number of elected and staff members from each side. No partisan bomb throwers permitted. It was Ontario’s great statesman, Robert Nixon, who played that role in the Peterson/Rae accord. The bellowing was done over wine-soaked nights, not in front of reporters.
If voters declare they want a minority government, the party leaders had better be able to point a path to a stable government of at least two partisan flavours by the end of next week.

We'll have a better idea of what the future holds tomorrow morning.

Image: CBC Archives



12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Being a Dipper, Sears looks back wistfully on ancient Lib-Dip alliances. But there were two minority governments of much more recent vintage that didn't work at all as he suggests. In fact, they involved a lot of partisan bomb throwing, most of it coming from the PMO! In other words, there's more than one way of running a minority government with staying power.

Cap

Owen Gray said...

Good point, Cap. Trudeau and Lewis could work together. Maybe it was because they both grew up in Montreal and shared common experiences. In the end, it depends on who leads the parties.

rumleyfips said...

The east/west divide may not be as rigid as expected. Manatoba will divide votes and maybe seats three ways leaning a bit to the conservative side. In British Columbia a four way race will result in an Oprah result - you get a seat and you get a seat and you get a seat. BC will lean progressive overall. The divide is Alberta ( and to a lesser extent Sask ) vs everybody else.

Anonymous said...

Exactly, Owen. Peterson and Rae also had much in common. Both graduated from the same law school around the same time. Rae got his political start as a Lib working on Trudeau's campaign and would later go on to rejoin and lead the Libs.

I don't see the same kind of connections among the current party leaders. And I don't see either May or Singh being keen to topple a minority Liberal government when the alternative is to cede power to whatever Trump-lite clone replaces Scheer. Trudeau may not need a formal alliance in order to form a minority government.

Cap

Cap

Owen Gray said...

The Alberta-Sask divide could become a big problem, rumley.

Owen Gray said...

As I see it, Cap, the biggest problem is the bile in the system. These days, we tend to see opponents as enemies.

the salamander said...

.. premature..
We - and that includes me.. are being influenced, even 'groomed' via poison pill, tranquilizing .. 'political polls' .. First and formost, they are sucked up and spread by lazy, sold out or complicit Mainstream Media. Where are the 'questions' , the context, who are the people polled & where ? Who paid for the poll ? Who profits ? This is not imformation.. its infiltration.

No all we get is the breathless pronouncement, the shiny pie chart and bingo bango its in your head.. If we think we can shake that off or shed the impression, you never read Marshall McLuhan correctly.. it was never The Medium Is The Message.. it was 'the Massage'

All Main Media currently is foaming at the mouth re pros , cons, wheels, deals, horse trading, gambits.. of deary me.. Minority Government.. Scheer et al reinventing our laws re such matters.. What If is the 'news' Oh those bad Greens or those bad NDP .. 'wah whines Scheer..

And.. if as posited over in Politics and Its Discontents.. every single vote is registered via Elections Canada and 'has merit and weight' .. what on earth are we doing allowing Main Media and Pollsters to influence said votes ? Even if its just one

Call me a lone voice in the wilderness.. I can take it.. but this dude does not abide. The Little 'cottage industry' that grew has long since metastisized into some strange tool of vote manipulation, vote suppression, vote influencing, and indeed like the cukoo egg.. is now ecrowding out healthy discussion of policy or merit or honesty

Just look at the current Conservative scandal with Daisy and Kinsella.. That is concrete proof of the current environment.. mebbe steal a few Bernier seats.. that would have split from Scheer - 'Election For Sale' .. and 'Money Talks Democracy Walks'

Its all anout the polls.. all anout the polls.. all about the polls.. all.. ab.. pols ..
Is that all we need to know.. or all we deserve to know ?????

John B. said...

Harper let it be known that he didn't have the competence to govern in a minority. Will Flanagan's New Rules still be in effect?

Owen Gray said...

Your skepticism about polls is well founded, sal. According to those polls, some 10% to 13% of us haven't made up our minds yet. Who knows how it will all work out?

Owen Gray said...

Good question, John. Of all the leaders, Scheer strikes me as the most unable to deal with a minority situation.

e.a.f. said...

OMG, I am old. I remember all of that. On the upside, I remember all of that. Out here in B.C. it was good to see JWR hang on to her seat. It demonstrates, you can be an independent and win.

It was unfortunate Lisa Raitt and Ralph Gooddale were not re elected.

Its always interesting to see the Seperatists gain ground in quebec, but I guess, they having given others a try, they're back to what they're comfortable with. The Greens have 3 seats, so all in all it wasn't bad. The NDP is back to historical levels, prior to jack Layton.

They all ought to be able to work together. of course Andrew Scheer may have a problem with all of it, but he'll have to get over it and him self. He still can't get a majority government going, with all the alleged failures of Trudeau. Singh did better than many expected, so its nice to see the NDP has a leader who will most likely stay around for a while.

I'm not so sure the Alberta/Sask "divide" is going to be a big thing. Its not like they're going to join the Bloc and they can scream all they want, but they are not the majority in Canada. Alberta will get their pipe line, but there will be limits to what others in Canada are going to stand for. Alberta and Jason Kenny are not god. If they don't learn to play well in the sand box, they may find themselves sitting by themselves and getting nowhere.

Owen Gray said...

We'll have to see how things shake out, e.a.f. Both Goodale and Raitt showed true graciousness last night. We need more of that.