Minority government in Canada: The Stephen Harper experience

American Review of Canadian Studies

Volumn 38, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 27-42

  Cody, Howard ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MAINE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DEMOCRACY; ELECTORAL GEOGRAPHY; ELECTORAL SYSTEM; PARTY POLITICS;

CANADA; NORTH AMERICA;

EID: 42449139214     PISSN: 02722011     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/02722010809481819     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. James Travers, "Quebec Tax Breaks Could Blow Up in Harper's Face," Toronto Star, March 22, 2007.
2. For an insider's account of the Progressive Conservative Party Canadian Alliance Party (formerly the Reform Party) merger that founded the Conservative Party of Canada in 2003 and took power in 2006, see Tom Flanagan, Harper's Team: Behind the Scenes in the Conservative Rise to Power (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2007). Harper is the new party's first and only leader to date.
3. "There's No Reason for a Federal Election Now," Globe and Mail, April 16, 2007, A12 (editorial).
4. See Arend Lijphart, "The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws, 1945-1985," American Political Science Review 84, no. 2 (June 1990): 481-496
5. Arend Lijphart, Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984
6. and Joseph Willey, "Institutional Arrangements and the Success of News Parties in Old Democracies," Political Studies 46, no. 3, special issue (1998): 651-668. While "Duverger's Law" associates plurality elections with two-party sytems, William Riker notes that the "extreme decentralization of Canadian government" facilitates the founding of new parties that can win power in the provinces. These parties subsequently can elect third-party MPs whose presence may prevent a majority, government in Ottawa.
7. William Riker. "The Two-Party System and Duverger's Law: An Essay on the History of Political Science." American Political Science Review 76, no. 4 (December 1982): 760.
8. Michael Gallagher, Michael Laver, and Peter Mair, Representative Government in Modern Europe, 4th ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006), 389.
9. Jorg Steiner and Markus M.L. Crepaz, European Democracies, 5th ed. (New York: Pearson Longman, 2007), 93.
10. Alfred Stepan with Cindy Stach, "Constitutional Frameworks and Democratic Consolidation: Parliamentarism versus Presidentialism," in Mark Kesselman and Joel Kreiger, eds., Readings in Comparative Politics: Political Challenges and Competing Agendas (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006), 287.
11. Gallagher et al., 387.
12. Steiner and Crepaz, 93.
13. Under MMP, voters elect at least half of their MPs in individual districts, much as under FPP. They elect the others in a second vote for party lists from which MPs are assigned through a proportional formula.
14. Henry Milner, "The Case for Proportional Representation in Canada," in Henry Milner, ed., Making Every Vote Count: Reassessing Canada's Electoral System (Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1999), 37-49.
15. On New Zealand under MM,P see Jonathan Boston, "Institutional Change in a Small Democracy," in F. Leslie Seidle and David Docherty. eds, Reforming Parliamentary Democrary (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003), 25-55
16. and Howard Cody. "Recent New Zealand and Canadian Elections and Electoral Reform in Canada," New England Journal of Political Science 2, no. 2 (Spring 2007): 122-151.
17. On [New Zealanders' reactions to the 2005 post-election negotiations, see Ruth Berry., "Voters Give MMP the Thumbs Down,", New Zealand Herald, October 22, 2005
18. and Peter Wilson, "Clark Should Hold New Gov't Together,'" October 24, 2005; accessed at www.stuff.co.nz.
19. David E. Smith, The People's House of Commons: Theories of Democracy in Contention (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007), 123.
20. Andre Kaizer, "Types of Democracy: From Classical to New Institutionalism," Journal of Theoretical Politics 9, no. 4: 1997): 419-444.
21. Eugene Forsey; "The Problem of 'Minority' Government in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 30, no. 1 (February 1964): 1-4.
22. Tom Kent "The Pearson Decade: How Defeat Foretold Victory," Policy Options, February 2006, 17; accessed at www.irpp.org.
23. Peter Dobell. "What Could Canadians Expect from a Minority Government?" Policy Matters, November 2000, 9; accessed at www.irpp.org.
24. Robin V. Sears, "The Ripple Effect from Quebec's Realignment Election," Policy Options, May 2007, 14 accessed at www.irpp.org.
25. For full details of the Liberal-NDP agreement along with its two-page txt, see Rand Dyck, Provincial Politics in Canada Toronto: Prentice-Hall, 1986), 304-306, 325-327.
26. Michael Howlett and Keith Brownsey, The Provincial State in Canada: Politics in the Provinces and Territories (Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2001), 178-183.
27. Graham White, The Ontario Legislature: A Political Analysis (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989), 258-260.
28. Heather MacIvor, Parameters of Power: Canada's Political Institutions, 4th ed. (Toronto: Thomson Nelson, 2006), 175-180.
29. Andre Turcotte, "After Fifty-Six Days ... the Verdict," in Jon H. Pammett and Christopher Dornan, eds., The Canadian General Election of 2006 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2006), 293.
30. Ibid., 289.
31. Rand Dyck, Canadian Politics: Critical Approaches, 5th ed. (Toronto: Thomson Nelson, 2008), 370.
32. Jennifer Ditchburn, "Canadians a Fickle Lot, New Poll Shows," Canadian Press, March 28, 2007.
33. On the Greens in the 2006 election, see, Susan Harada, "Great Expectations: The Green Party of Canada's 2006 Campaign" (sic), in Pammett and Dornan, 143-170.
34. On how the Bloc defines its role, see Manon Cornciller, The Bloc (Toronto: James Lorimer and Company, 1995)
35. and Eric Belanger, "The Rise of Third Parties in the 1993 Canadian Federal Election: Pinard Revisited," Canadian Journal of Political Science 37. no. 4 (December 2004): 581-594.
36. For New Democrats' conception of their party's mission in Canada's politics, see Edward Broadbent, ed., Democratic Equality: What Went Wrong? (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2001)
37. and Ed Broadbent, "Mr. Rae and the Liberals Deserve Each Other," Globe and Mail, April 27, 2006, A19.
38. On the NDPs role as a nudge on Liberal governments, see Howard Cody, "The New Democrats' Search for Relevance as a Nudge Party," American Review of Canadian Studies 43, no. 1 (Spring 2004): 59-79.
39. For example, see pollster Michael Adams, Fire and Ice: The United States, Canada, and the Myth of Converging Values (Toronto: Penguin, 2003).
40. Harper is quoted in John Ibbitson, The Polite Revolution: Perfecting, the Canadian Dream (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2005), 28.
41. Thomas Flanagan, "Ottawa Is Worth a Mass: Stephen Harper's Rise to Power," Inroads 19 (Summer-Fall 2006: 82-83.
42. Tom Flanagan, "Thou Shalt Not Lean Too Far to the Right," Globe and Mail, September 22, 2007. F1.
43. Thomas Flanagan, Waiting for the Wave: The Reform Party and Preston Manning (Toronto: Stodart. 1995), 60. For how Harper modeled his conservatism on Thatcher and Reagan
44. see William Johnson, Stephen Harper and the Future of Canada, rev. ed. (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2006), 111-125.
45. Gloria Galloway. "Campaign Rush Sparks Debate," Globe and Mail, March 7, 2007, A4.
46. For Harper's 2006 election strategy and platform, see Faron Ellis and Peter Woolstencroft, "A Change of Government, Not a Change of Country: The Conservatives and the 2006 Election" (sic) in Pammett and Dornan, 71-77.
47. Brian Laghi, "Budget a Blueprint for the Next Election," Globe and Mail, March 20, 2007, A1.
48. Harper used this phrase, but only in French, in an April 2007 speech in Quebec. Jeffrey Simpson, "Harper Fishes for Votes in Quebec with Canada's Future," Globe and Mail, May 2, 2007, A17.
49. G. Bruce Doern, "The Harper Government Agenda: True-Blue or Liberal-Lite?" in G. Bruce Doern, ed., How Ottawa Spends 2006-2007: In from the Cold the Tory Rise and the Liberal Demise, Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006), 19-22.
50. The Harper quotation is from "Weaken Ottawa, Hobble the Nation," Toronto Star, August 14, 2007 (editorial).
51. Paul Romney. Getting It Wrong: How Canadians Forgot Their Past and Imperilled Confederation (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999). Romney summarizes his argument at 277-291.
52. Adam Harmes argues that neoliberal economist Harper, through his open federalism approach, "seeks to use institutional reforms to lock in more market-oriented public policies" that include a less activist role for the federal government in its relations with the provinces. Adam Harmes, "The Political Economy of Open Federalism," Canadian Journal Political Science 40, no. 2 June 2007): 418.
53. Typical of the media coverage of Harper's minority Parliament is Campbell Clark, "A House Divided against Itself. Can It Stand?" Globe and Mail, May 18, 2007, A14.
54. "We Need an Election - Soon," National Post, May 22, 2007 (editorial).
55. Brian Laghi, "Harper's Staying Power," Globe and Mail, June 16, 2007, A4.
56. Tom Flanagan, "It's Time for Conservative Minority Brinkmanship," Globe and Mail, August 1, 2007, A15,
57. Tom Keating, Canada and World Order: The multilateralist Tradition in Canadian Foreign Policy, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2002), 1. Keating defines multilateralism as "working with coalitions of states, primarily but not exclusively within formal associations or institutions, to achieve foreign policy objectives," or multilateral diplomacy and the policies supporting the establishment and maintenance of institutions and associations that facilitate and support international diplomacy Ibid., 4.
58. John Herd Thompson and Stephen J. Randall, Canada and the United States: Ambivalent Allies, 3rd ed. (Athens: University of Georgia Press. 2002) 8.
59. This quotation is from a 2003 Harper letter. Munroe Eagles, "Canadian-American Relations in a Turbulent Era," Political Science 34, no. 4 (October 2006); accessed at www.apsa.net.
60. Sears, 18; Mike de Souza, "Our Cause is Noble, Harper Tells Australians," Can West News Service. September 11 2007; accessed at www.canada.com.
61. Sears, 18.
62. Eugene Lang, "Course Change for Ship of State," Toronto Star July 15, 2007. Lang was a deputy minister of defence in the previous Liberal government.
63. Peter Preston, "Stuck in the Quicksand," Guardian, September 4, 2006; accessed at www.guardian.co.uk.
64. Desmond Morton, "Afghanistan Famously Inhospitalble to Foreigners," Policy Options, December 2006 January 2007, 20; accessed at www.irpp.org.
65. John Ibbitson, "Harper Sticks to Traditional Allies," Globe and Mail, July 15, 2006, A14.
66. Alan Freeman, "Change Tune on War, PM Told," Globe and Mail, July 13, 2007, A1.
67. Andrew Coyne, "Harper's J-Turn on Afghanistan,", National Post, June 27, 2007.
68. Lisa Young, "Electoral Instability in Canada: Implications for the Canada-U.S. Relationship," American Review of Canadian Studies 37, no. 1 (Spring 2007): 12.
69. Nelson Wiseman, "Cabinet Shuffle Had Only Domestic Calculations in Mind," Hill Times, August 20, 2007, 6
70. Lawrence Martin, "Sure, Shuffle the Cabinet, but How About Loosening the Reins" Globe and Mail, August 13, 2007, A13.
71. Forsey, 4.
72. Norman Webster, "Minority Government, Brought Civilization to Queen's Park," Gazette, April 15, 2007.
73. Andrew F. Cooper and Dane Rowlands, "Positioning Policy Priorities in a Minority Context: Prospects for the Harper Government," in Andrew F. Cooper and Dane Rowlands, eds., Canada Among Nations 2006: Minorities and Priorities (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006), 6.
74. Polls suggest that Canadians want Harper closer to the center and farther from George W. Bush, while they like his moderate domestic policies better than they like him. Peter Donolo and Tim Woolstencroft, "What Can Harper Do to Increase His Chances of Winning a Majority, Government" Globe and Mail, August 27, 2007
75. Gloria Galloway, "The Harper Paradox," Globe and Mail, August 27, 2007, Al.
76. On a gender gap, see Brian Laghi, "Harper Failing to Sway Countrv," Globe and Mail, Julv 19, 2007, A1.
77. R. Kenneth Carty, William Cross, and Lisa Young, Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2000), 26.
78. Johnson, 473.
79. Preston Manning, interview with Adam Radwanski, May 10, 2007; accessed at www.macleans.ca.
80. Nigel Hannaford, "Harper Does It My Way," Calgary Herald, February 17, 2007.
81. Jacob T. Levy, "Federalism, Liberalism, and the Separation of Loyalties," American Political Science Review 101, no. 3 (August 2007): 470.
82. Colby Cosh, "Pondering the West Lothian Question," National Post, July 6, 2007.
83. Boris Johnson, "Are We All Equally British? Not if Brown Has His Way;" Guardian, June 12, 2007.
84. For Ontario's voters' decisive rejection of an MMP model in art October 2007 referendum, and for speculation on PR's future in Canada, see Hugh Segal, "First past the Post Wins Again," Policy Options, November 2007, 27-30
85. and Tom Kent, "Electoral Reform for Constructive Competition," ibid., 31-34.
86. Jonathan Boston reports that before MMP took effect, New Zealanders, as Westminster PR trailblazers, had "no idea" which of these models would prevail in their country; Boston, 33.