Canadian Minority Government
Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2004 9:49 pm
Thought I'd share a few things going on North of the border (even though I'm an Oregonian for the summer).<br><br>Tonight, the Canadian people elected in a Liberal Minority government. This is the first minority government in over twenty five years. Canada has five major parties (a party with more than 5% of the popular vote), and every once in a while, the vote gets split so much that one party can't make a clear victory. In this case, the Liberal Party of Canada won approximately (exact numbers don't exist yet) 137 of the 305 seats of Canadian Parliament, or, less than fifty percent. The Conservative Party of Canada won approximately 95, the New Democratic Party 21, the Bloc Québecois 54, the Green Party 0, and one Independent.<br><br><br>ABOUT THE PARTIES<br>The Liberals have been the elected government since 1993 - this is their fourth consecutive victory (the other three all being strong majority governments). They're a centrist party, leaning slightly left, and have done well people most people can agree on them most. In the last year, though, they've been the subject of a funding scandal of a few of their members, and people have gotten generally bored with the reigning party. Both of these - though the scandal had a bigger part - contributed to them getting knocked down to minority status.<br><br>The second place party, and now "Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition", is the Conservative Party of Canada. They're a recent merger of the country's two right-wing parties, the Progressive Conservatives (who are older than Canada itself), a just-right-of-centre party, and the Canadian Alliance, a further right-wing party. Many of the old Conservatives left the party, either retiring from politics (like former Prime Minster Joe Clark) or becoming a Liberal (like former Speaker of the House Gary Carr). Their main campaigning focused on "time for change" and the need to get rid of "a corrupt government".<br><br>The New Democratic party is the far-left of Canada. They sit at about 15% of the popular vote, but because they're so spread out, win fewer than 15% of the seats. They're in favour of continuing government funded health care and supporting other social programs. While they've never become the Canadian Government, the provincial level of the NDP controls variuos Provincial Parliaments from time to time.<br><br>The Green Party is the smallest of the major parties, only first reaching 5% of the popular vote at this election. They're fairly left wing, and I don't know much about them aside from that, and they consider the environment more important than most other parties do. They've received 5% of the vote in most seats, and have subsequently taken none.<br><br>The Bloc Quebecois exists only in the province of Quebec. Because Quebec is the second most populated of Canada's thirteen divisions, and because the Bloc captured almost all of Quebec's seats, the Bloc is the third largest party in Canada, even though it's populat vote lags several points behind the New Democrats. The Bloc is in favour of ensuring Quebec identity by protecting French as a national language, providing more power to the provinces (Health Care exists on a provincial level in Canada, but much of the funding for it comes from the Federal level), and many of their members also support Quebec Sovereignty - leaving Canada - but the party also counts many non-sovereigntists among it's supporters, since this is only a facet - albiet it's most pronounced - of party doctrine.<br><br><br><br>WHAT A MINORITY MEANS<br>It means that parties are going to have to co-operate to get things done. Now is the perfect time for the NDP or the Bloc to present it's agenda, because an alliance with the Liberals will give the Liberals a majority they want.<br>A minority is also unstable, however. A "Vote of No Confidence" can be passed in the Canadian Legislature which would call for a new election (these can only be passed in a minority government, because the ruling party doesn't have enough seats to stop it).<br><br>- No minority government has lasted more than two years.<br>- The last minority government was a Conservative one in 1979 that lasted six months.<br>- This one is expected to last longer, because the election was very close and bitter, the parties are going to spend some time refilling their campaigning coffers and re-evaluating their leadership before anyone even thinks of a No Confidence Vote.<br><br><br><br>I've probably put half of you to sleep, but I figured I'd share a bit about current Canadian politics with anyone who's interested. I've tried to keep this as objective as possible. Also, I'm more than willing to answer any questions anyone might have. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>
