Federal Minority Governments In Canada
During the history of Canadian politics, eleven minority governments have been elected at the federal level. There have also been two minority governments resulting from governments being replaced between elections, for a total of thirteen federal minority governments in twelve separate minority parliaments. There have been historical cases where the governing party had fewer than half of the seats but had the support of independents who called themselves members of the party; these cases are not included, as there was never any serious chance of the government falling.
In a minority situation, governments must rely on the support of other parties to stay in power, providing less stability than a majority government. At the federal level no minority government (excepting the odd case of the 14th) has lasted a standard four-year term. Most minority governments have lasted less than two years. The average duration of completed minorities in Canada is 479 days or approximately 1 year, 140 days counting only that part of the 14th Parliament that was a minority, or 1 year, 207 days counting the entire duration of it.
In addition to the minorities below, the 2nd Canadian Parliament was a minority for 56 days under prime minister Alexander Mackenzie after he took power from Sir John A. Macdonald following the Pacific Scandal. However, this event is generally not noted because Parliament was never in session while Mackenzie was in power.
The eleventh federal minority parliament was elected in the 2008 election.
Read more about Federal Minority Governments In Canada: Alexander Mackenzie, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Arthur Meighen, John Diefenbaker, Lester B. Pearson, Pierre E. Trudeau, Joe Clark, Paul Martin, Stephen Harper, Minority Governments By Term of Office
Famous quotes containing the words federal, minority, governments and/or canada:
“The Federal Constitution has stood the test of more than a hundred years in supplying the powers that have been needed to make the Central Government as strong as it ought to be, and with this movement toward uniform legislation and agreements between the States I do not see why the Constitution may not serve our people always.”
—William Howard Taft (18571930)
“If when a businessman speaks of minority employment, or air pollution, or poverty, he speaks in the language of a certified public accountant analyzing a corporate balance sheet, who is to know that he understands the human problems behind the statistical ones? If the businessman would stop talking like a computer printout or a page from the corporate annual report, other people would stop thinking he had a cash register for a heart. It is as simple as thatbut that isnt simple.”
—Louis B. Lundborg (19061981)
“In the twentieth century one of the most personal relationships to have developed is that of the person and the state.... Its become a fact of life that governments have become very intimate with people, most always to their detriment.”
—E.L. (Edgar Lawrence)
“In Canada an ordinary New England house would be mistaken for the château, and while every village here contains at least several gentlemen or squires, there is but one to a seigniory.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)