Coalition!

Today, the Liberals and the NDP signed an agreement saying that they would be willing to share power and form a government, supported by the Bloc, should the Conservative party lose the support of the house in an upcoming confidence vote. Essentially, Stephane Dion would be the Prime Minister, the NDP would get a quarter of the cabinet seats, and the Bloc would have major bargaining power when it came to legislation. The agreement between the Liberals and NDP would be in place until 2011, and the Bloc has signed on to support it for at least the next 18 months.

This news is extremely exciting for me, someone who has longed for a minority government that actually works and that is not just looking towards the next election. Coalition governments have been successful in other countries, and it seems that especially with our outdated, first-past-the-post system of government (perhaps to be changed in BC soon! http://stv.ca) coalition governments are the more democratic way to go... that is, if the parties can actually co-operate--something they will have to learn to do as they go along if they are going to share power over the next two years.

Current Prime Minister Harper is obviously stunned by the newfound balls of the opposition, as I'm sure a lot of us are. How is Harper going to handle this? He is already saying that the coalition is the "biggest political game in Canadian history" and to form a government without an election is undemocratic--he most certainly is not going to let this go without a fight. However, it would probably be beneficial for Harper to remember that back when Paul Martin was PM he himself wrote the Governor General asking for permission to form a government should the house lose confidence in the Liberals.

For the moment, it is important for Canadians to keep in mind that the majority of Canadians did not vote Conservative. This coalition is much more in line with the will of Canadians as a whole. And just because there is talk of a coalition doesn't mean it's set in stone... Anything can happen before Monday's vote, right?

Finally, I just have to say that it's kind of amazing that a fall financial update is what it took to get government all riled up...

http://www.progressivecoalition.ca/