E minus 6: Coalitions

Just over two years ago, Canada slipped to within a hair of being run by a coalition government. Only Stephen Harper’s extraordinarily adept use of prorogation saved us from going the way of such failed democracies as France, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, and, since 2010, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Thanks to prorogation, and some (temporary) support from the Liberals, the new Conservative’s minority government survived, and Canadian’s learned that coalitions are a) undemocratic, b) un-Canadian, c) probably unholy, and, d) to be embraced as one would embrace a glowing lump of nuclear fuel.

Point 1: Getting 40% percent of the votes means that 60% of voters didn’t want you to form the government.

I would venture that to most Canadians democracy implies, at worst, a government that represents the majority of the population and, at best, represents them without trampling on the rights, interests and aspirations of the others.

Thanks to our archaic and perverse electoral system, however, this accounting does not tally well with reality. Our governments rarely represent so much as an even 50% of the electorate. And the key question for many in this election seems to be if Stephen Harper can get his majority in the House of Commons; polling at somewhere just under 40%, he is mouth-wateringly close.

If Harper succeeds, he may well form a majority government, but he will still be a very long way from representing the majority of Canadians. Six out of 10 voters will have expressly voted not to be ruled by Stephen Harper.

Point 2: Majority governments are dictatorships with expiration dates.

I will not belabour the point. Majority governments differ from dictatorships only on two fine — though very important — points

• They must obey the law (though, admittedly, they have been known to fail on this point).
• They have an expiration date.

Otherwise, between the time they get elected and the time they must run again for re-election, they do pretty much as they please.

Other parties, those out of government, may decry the government’s partisan policies, lament its short-sightedness, stall legislation in committees, and otherwise attempt to maintain a semblance of usefulness and self-respect, but essentially they are decorative — until the next election.

Point 3: A coalition government is more democratic than a majority government.

Coalition governments are for more democratic than majority governments. For starters, in this country at least, they are far more likely to represent a majority of voters. An unlikely coalition of the Conservatives and NDP, for instance, with, say 48% and 21% of votes respectively would be a government representing more than two-thirds of Canadians. This is indeed something we haven’t seen in a long time.

The short-lived coalition of 2008, for example, represented 54% of the vote, rather more than the Conservatives’ 36.6%. If democracy has anything to do with governments representing the majority, this coalition was far more democratic than any majority government our current election might produce.

To this add the fact that by definition a coalition government represents diverse and, quite likely, divergent interests, and is, therefore, far less likely than a majority government to promote the interests of any single sector of the population, ignoring others. Quite to the contrary, in order to govern, a coalition government must continuously seek compromise and consensus, an admittedly un-Canadian approach to government in the new millennium, but perhaps worth a try. 

Point 4: Hold your nose.

In this election there are no coalitions, though Stephen Harper’s party does continue to imply that the Liberals, NDP and Bloc have some sort of secret and anti-democratic compact to seize power, even if they lose the election.

Their arithmetic is as poor as their understanding of democracy. If the Conservatives manage 40% of the vote and the Greens and others 8%, that leaves 52% of votes for the secret compact. I submit that if this be the case on May 2nd, then a government with the confidence of more than half the voters would be a better choice than one that has the confidence of only four out of 10 citizens.

Unfortunately, however, as we have seen, the vicious logic of our electoral system may split the vote in enough ridings to hand us a Harper majority. Since the Liberals, NDP, Bloc and Greens have thus far played by Harper’s rules and not formed a coalition or compact, it is up to us to force them into it.

On election day, if we live in a riding with any chance of a Conservative candidate winning, we’ll have to hold our noses and vote, not for the candidate or party we prefer, but for the one most likely to defeat the Conservative. 

With a bit of luck, Messieurs Layton, Ignatieff and Duceppe, and Ms May will find enough common ground to give us something better than the bombast and bullying with which we are now, sadly, all too familiar.