Courtesy of Wilfred Day, commenting on a previous post here on minority governments in Canada, comes the following quote from a noted Canadian political scientist, Peter Russell:
Though I very much favour some form of proportional representation, the purpose of this essay is not to make the case for electoral reform but to show why minority government or coalition government is to be preferred to the alternative you are most likely to get under the existing system — false majority government. . . So sit back and enjoy — another minority government (we should hope) is coming to Ottawa.
Indeed. The last four times a single party has had a majority of seats in parliament, the “majority” party’s vote shares were:
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43, 41.3, 38.5, 40.8
The first was the Conservative party (1988), the others have been Liberal. In 2004, the Liberals won 36.7% of the votes, and 43.8% of the seats, resulting in the first minority government since 1979.
Related post on minority (or maybe even coalitional) bargaining scenarios for 2006: Strategic voting and coalition politics in Canada’s upcoming election (December 4)
