Lester B. Pearson won a minority government in 1963, supported by the NDP. Here’s what they did:
Pearson never had a majority in the Canadian House of Commons, but he nevertheless managed to bring in many of Canada’s major social programs, including universal health care, the Canada Pension Plan and Canada Student Loans, and established a new national flag, the Maple Leaf. This was due in part to support for his minority government in the House of Commons from the New Democratic Party, led by Tommy Douglas. His legislation included instituting the 40-hour work week, two weeks vacation time and a new minimum wage.
Not too shabby. And this doesn’t include basically inventing UN peacekeeping, winning the Nobel Peace Prize (something Harper seems rather unlikely to win any time soon), and being the PM to Justice Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau, who:
As Minister of Justice, Pierre Trudeau was responsible for introducing the landmark Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69, an omnibus bill whose provisions included, among other things, the decriminalization of homosexual acts between consenting adults, the legalization of contraception, abortion and lotteries, new gun ownership restrictions as well as the authorization of breathalyzer tests on suspected drunk drivers. Trudeau famously defended the decriminalization of homosexual acts segment of the bill by telling reporters that “there’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation”, adding that “what’s done in private between adults doesn’t concern the Criminal Code”.
That’s right, those dastardly socialists forced upon us a 40-hour work week, two weeks vacation, universal health care, and CPP. And as if that wasn’t enough, they allowed us to use contraception, obtain abortions, and do what we wanted in the privacy of our own homes. That sounds almost…conservative.
Yes, what a disaster an NDP-Liberal government could be…for the phony conservative Conservatives.
Here are examples of other successful coalition governments around the world and provincially.
2 comments ↓
Reminds me of the Canada I grew up in! As a young teenager under the Pearson government, I thought at the time that minority governments were a good thing–because they do less damage! And as you point out, they can actually accomplish some things to be proud of.
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