Parliament

Overview of Parliamentarism: Minority Government

A minority government exists where the party that wins the most seats in a general election has fewer seats than do the opposition parties combined. A government lacking an outright majority of seats depends for its survival on the support of other parties or independents who hold the balance of power in the House of Commons. This support can be informal or achieved through a formal arrangement - either an agreement with another party or parties to advance certain policies of interest to those other parties in exchange for support on confidence motions, or, more rarely, takes the form of a coalition government. In a coalition government, members from all parties involved in the coalition hold cabinet positions, while the leader of the party with the most seats in the coalition is normally the Prime Minister. In the case of a formal agreement between two or more parties, the party with the most seats forms the government, with no representation from the other party or parties.

A party or coalition does not have to have an outright majority of seats to be able to form a government. The key to the survival of a government in a parliamentary system depends on its ability to maintain the confidence, or support, of the House. Equally, a government lacking the support of a majority can survive if the other groups in the House are unable to unite to express a lack of confidence.

During the history of Canadian politics there have been 12 minority governments at the federal level, and a number provincially. The most recent federal minority was elected in the 14 October, 2008, election.

In Canada, in a minority situation, coalition governments are rarely formed; rather the government stays in office due to an understanding with a third party. This can be done formally - such as the Liberal-NDP agreement in Ontario in 1985 - or on a more ad hoc basis. The latter increases the instability of governments greatly. At the federal level no minority has lasted a standard term, and most have lasted less than two years.

Canada's first minority government was a result of the rise of the Progressive Party in western Canada. In the 1921 Canadian election the Liberals under William Lyon Mackenzie King fell one seat short of a majority government. The almost seventy member strong Progressive contingent had little unity and there was always at least one that would vote with the government on any matter. Mackenzie King thus governed as if he had a majority.

In the 1925 Canadian election the Progressives fell to 25 seats but the Liberals won only 101 seats, both losing seats to the Conservatives who won 116. The Progressives were far closer to the Liberals and Mackenzie King as Prime Minister had the first option of forming a government. He did so and governed with the help of the Progressives until June 1926.

In 1926 a scandal over the customs department cost Mackenzie King the support of the Progressives. He thus asked the Governor General to dissolve parliament and hold another election. Viscount Byng of Vimy, the Governor General refused, however opting to give the Conservatives a chance to govern. This infuriated Mackenzie King who felt that the appointed Governor General should not be able to override the Prime Minister. This lead to the King-Byng Affair.

Arthur Meighen of the Conservatives was given his chance to govern but his attempt to lead a minority government failed in September of 1926. In the subsequent election the Liberals used the furor over the King-Byng Affair to win a strong majority government.

After many decades of Liberal rule the Progressive Conservative Party under John Diefenbaker won a minority government in the 1957 Canadian election. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent seeing the mood of the nation opted to step aside and let Diefenbaker govern. This minority lasted only a few months. Diefenbaker's skyrocketing popularity led the Tories to begin preparing for another election. No major bills were introduced and Diefenbaker quickly dissolved parliament and won a massive majority in the subsequent 1958 Canadian election.

The Diefenbaker government ended badly with party infighting and controversies over relations with the United States. In the 1962 Canadian election the Tories won only a minority. This time the momentum was with the Liberals and the imploding Tories were all but incapable of governing. This quickly resulted in another election.

In the 1963 Canadian election the Liberals under Lester B. Pearson were also unable to win a majority. The next three years were productive ones however as a close working relationship between the Liberals and the NDP saw the introduction of Canada's health care system, the Canadian flag, and the Canada Pension Plan. In 1965 Pearson dissolved Parliament in an attempt to win a majority, but the make-up of Parliament remained almost exactly the same leading to three more years of a productive alliance between the Liberals and NDP.

Canada's constitutional law dealing with minority governments was altered in 1968 when Pearson's government was unexpectedly defeated on a matter of confidence. While this should have led to an immediate dissolution of parliament none of the parties were ready and Pearson was in the process of being replaced as leader of the Liberals. By mutual agreement among the party leaders it was decided that the parliament would continue, setting a new precedent.

The next minority government in Canada was similar. The 1972 Canadian election saw the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau win only two seats more than the Tories. They were again forced to rely on the NDP to remain in power. In this instance the NDP demanded the creation of Petro Canada among other things to support the Liberals. In 1974 Trudeau dissolved Parliament and successfully won a large majority government.

While the Liberals have had first the Progressives and later the NDP to support them in minority situations the Conservatives have had no such partner. In the aftermath of the 1979 Canadian election this became evident as Tory Prime Minister Joe Clark who attempted to govern soon saw his government forced to dissolve after losing a vote on the budget orchestrated by the Liberals and NDP. Clark could have prevented this, but he hoped to follow the precedent of Diefenbaker and advance to a majority. However the dissolution was portrayed as a laughable blunder and in the subsequent 1980 Canadian election the Tories fell to the Liberals.

The result of the June 28, 2004, federal election saw a resumption of the Liberal-NDP alliance that had been successful in the past; however, this alliance did not form a majority. While the NDP was instrumental in helping the Liberal government stave off defeat in the spring of 2005, it withdrew its support from the Liberals in the fall session, and instead supported a Conservative party confidence motion. The Liberal government was defeated, 171 votes to 133, on November 28, 2005.

The ensuing federal election of January 23, 2006, resulted in yet another minority government. The Conservative party won 124 seats, the Liberals 103 seats, the Bloc Québécois 51, the NDP 29 and 1 Independent was elected. However, only two weeks after the election, on February 6, it was learned that newly-re-elected Liberal MP David Emerson had crossed the floor to join the Conservatives and was sworn into cabinet as Minister of International Trade. The move gave the governing Conservatives 125 seats, the Liberals 102, the BQ 51, the NDP 29 and 1 Independent.

In the general election of October 14, 2008, the Conservative Party won 143 seats, again shy of the required 155 to form a majority government. Soon after the new Parliament opened in November, however, the government found itself facing certain defeat over its fiscal update, which none of the opposition parties were willing to support. As well, the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party agreed to form a coalition, which would be supported on confidence motions only by the Bloc Québécois for a period of 18 months. The BQ would not be a formal part of the coalition, while the NDP would have 6 cabinet seats in the coalition government. The opposition parties were ready to ask the Governor General to let them form the government should the Conservative government be defeated in the House. Facing this certain defeat of his party, Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the Governor General to prorogue parliament, which she agreed to do. Parliament was suspended until January 26, 2009.