So what happened? My bet is that Harper thought that he could do anything he wanted as it would be impossible for the Liberals to get out from under the leadership mess. Worse, he could not help poking a stick in the eye of all the other parties.
Well what now?
Well welcome to the reality of Parliament. Constitutional practice is clear. If the alternative can show that they have an agenda and that they have the votes, the the GG has to ask them to try and form a government. This is her first step. Only if that government falls apart will she call an election.
My bet is that Harper could not imagine a coalition being formed and so acted as if he had a majority.
So what about coalitions? Remember they exist in many countries.
They are a fact of life when a country has a many party system. A trend that we are seeing in Canada is regionalism. The idea of ONE Canada is unraveling.I think that the idea of National Parties may be as well.
Here is another way of seeing the map of Canada. With a new map, we can see a new political map too. A new role for parties.
We can say that the Bloq is anti Canada - but in reality it exists to get the biggest bang for the buck from Canada for Quebec as it can. It does a good job at that.
In a way the Harper Conservatives are in reality western rural party that has got the West and its oil backers the biggest bang for their buck. It is also becoming a Rural Party that represents a rural view of values.
The National Consensus is being broken by the recession. As resources get tight, interests will get organized to fight for their share.
Soon Ontario will have to fight for Ontario - the rest of us care less for the auto sector than they do. Ironically, an Ontario party in Ottawa can aly with the BQ here. They share an interest in manufacturing and services.
It's really Oil versus the rest. For support of big oil harms everyone else. So Alberta, Sakatchewan and Newfoundland have common interests. BC, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the rest of Atlantic Canada have their common interests. Oil means high dollar and it means blocking green technology.
Then to make matters more complex there is the Rural - Urban split.
Cities have wildly different sets of values and cultures than the rural regions. Rural Ontario has a lot in common with rural PEI but nothing in common with Toronto or Charlottetown. Rural Canada is religious and Christian. Urban is cosmopolitan and multi-racial/multi-religious. Urban Canada produces most of the GDP but gets less of the taxes back for its crumbling infrastructure. Rural Canada hates the values of the towns. The two are in opposition.
This is the new Canada. Parties to be successful have to represent people. You cant have the oil and the car makers in the same tent. You can't have Toronto and North Bay in the same tent.
You can fight it out in Parliament though. That is where the compromise can emerge.
Smart politicians will start to see this new reality.
The Nation State is dying.
