It might very well be time to give majority government another try in Canada.
This is a notion, new polling data suggests, to which Canadian voters are coming around in growing numbers. And with good reason. The country is now on its third minority government in the past five years, and another election looms. The political climate has rarely been more poisonous, governance more unstable, or Parliament more dysfunctional. But Quebecers, more than other Canadians, have the power to give the country majority stability.
Minority government is attractive in theory, but not necessarily in practice. Many like the idea of having a government's worst instincts kept in check by a combined opposition majority that forces a minority government to seek, if not full consensus, at least some support beyond its own ranks. Those who champion minority government like to point to the Pearson administrations of the mid-1960s that brought in medicare, a new Canada Pension Plan, and the maple leaf flag as a shining example of how minority government can work brilliantly.
But then the Pearson governments, between their shining moments, also tended to lurch from crisis to crisis. What we have today is minority government lurching in turn, but without the Pearsonian record of achievement. Twice in the past seven months the Harper government has been on the verge of being toppled, the first time mere weeks after the last election. A common observation is that politics as played in Ottawa has devolved into an ongoing game of chicken.
Minority government tends to be unstable government, and government without hard decisions. A poll taken this month shows an electorate increasingly yearning for the stability of majority government. Conducted by the reputable Harris-Decima firm, the poll showed 64 per cent of Canadians now would prefer a majority government, up significantly from 52 per cent two years ago.
Much as they might want one, however, there are obstacles in the way of a majority government even if Canadians have the opportunity to vote for one soon, possibly as early as this fall when the Harper government will face another confidence test in Parliament. So far neither of the two major parties has managed to persuade enough Canadians that it merits full confidence. Too many are still too distrustful of the Harper Conservatives' ideology and agenda to be willing to give them free rein, and too unconvinced by the Liberals under Michael Ignatieff who have so far failed to match their rhetoric with a serious action plan.
As noted above, Quebecers more than others have it in their power to break this log-jam, by taking a more active hand in national governance instead of "parking" their votes with an increasingly irrelevant Bloc Québécois. Had Quebecers voted for national parties in the same proportion as other Canadians in the last election, we would have a majority government. The instability of minority times makes the government of Canada weaker, which serves the sovereignists' interests but not the public interest.
This month's poll showed that Quebecers, by a clear majority of 63 per cent, want a majority government, as do other Canadians (64 per cent). If that's what Quebec wants, all it has to do is go for it.