One and a Half Cheers

Minority governments crop up with some regularity in Canadian voting history, but they are fragile flowers that do not tend to last long. Of the twelve federal minorities this country has had since 1921, their average length of operation has been one year, eight and a half months. Stephen Harper has outrun the average by a full year at this point, thanks to a set of opponents who seem to have no interest in returning to the polls.

Whenever we find ourselves in a minority situation, experts can be counted on to argue that this form of government is not a bad thing for Canada—or for any country—because it keeps the executive in check. Two Cheers for Minority Government: The Evolution of Canadian Parliamentary Democracy, from University of Toronto political scientist Peter Russell, is the latest and one of the most thorough, although ultimately unconvincing, attempts to make this case.

The book is essentially half history of minority government...