The corporate media is taking Stephen Harper’s lead in demonizing the opposition coalition possibilities while ignoring that the Conservative-Liberal coalition has been governing Canada for years already.
The only possible way out of this box is for Mr. Ignatieff to say categorically that he will not form a coalition with either the NDP or the Bloc, before or after an election
Most of the focus in corporate media about coalitions is either in the context of the spectre of a coalition government before Harper’s first proroguement two years ago or in a future coalition that will continue to rightly check Harper’s minority government.
The Liberals have been effectively in coalition with the Conservatives by ensuring enough of their MPs do not show up to votes which would threaten the current government. That’s a coalition. A quiet, awkward one, but still a coalition.
We also have another coalition at work in parliament. We saw it defeat the Conservative attempt to kill the long-gun registry and yesterday it started its campaign to reverse the blindly ideological removal of the long-form census.
While coalitions are not proportional representation, they are solid manifestation of more healthy debate in parliament and better representation as the opposition parties, who represent the vast majority of Canadian voters, attempt to pursue policies.
All of this is good.
It is training Canadians in the attractive possibilities of better political behaviour, debate and leadership that can happen when we do not have the tyranny of majority governments that are capable of being elected and whipping legislation through with the support of only 25% of eligible voters.