Federal Election of Canada 2011, Part 7, Why is minority government bad for Canada?

Is minority government bad for Canada? No, it is not bad for Canada. There has been 13 minority government in Canada. Dose the party with the most seats has the right to govern the country? No, they do not have a “Right” to govern the country, after all the majority did not vote for them. So the question is how can a minority government can govern the country?

The best example is the Lester Pearson government

1963 election

Party	Seats	Popular Vote %
Liberal – Lester Pearson	128	41.52%
PC – John Diefenbaker	95	32.72%
Social Credit – Robert Thompson	24	11.92%
New Democrat – Tommy Douglas	17	13.24%

1965 election

Party	Seats	Popular Vote %
Liberal – Lester Pearson	131	40.18%
PC – John Diefenbaker	97	32.41%
New Democrat – Tommy Douglas	21	17.91%
RC – Réal Caouette	9	4.66%
Social Credit – Robert Thompson	5	3.66%

• PC – Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
• RC – Ralliement créditiste, this party is Quebec base party

During these 2 term was the most productive Parliament. The Liberal and the backing of the NDP. National identity, Canada got a new flag.

1957 - 1965	runner up	runner up	1965 - present

Other and very important bills that where past that we have today

• Canada's health care system
• Canada Pension Plan

1972 election

Party	Seats	Popular Vote %
Liberal – Pierre Trudeau	109	38.42%
PC – Robert Stanfield	107	35.02%
New Democrat – David Lewis	31	17.83%
Social Credit – Réal Caouette	15	7.55%

The most notable from this government is the creation of Petro-Canada

Other notable minority government

Longest term:

• Liberal – William Lyon Mackenzie King, 1921–1925, 3 years (233 days)

Shortest term:

• PC – Arthur Meighen, 1926, 0 years (3 days)

Longest time as government:

• CPC: Stephen Harper – 1^st term 2006–2008, 2 years, (207 days)
• CPC: Stephen Harper – 2^nd term 2008–2011, 2 years, (142 days)
• In total 4 years (349 days)
  

Minority governments from the 1950's to today

There has been 9 minority and 10 majority government

from 1962 to 1968 and 2004 to 2011 are the longest stretch of minority governments

So is minority governments hurtful to Canada, No. Out off the last 61 years it's almost 50% time we had minority government. What isn't good for Canada is a government, try to push their agenda through, without regards of parliament. What made a good minority government is a government that works with the other parties. Currently the opposition parties are willing to work with each other, however the current government shows very little interest in working with the opposition parties.