Another viewpoint.

• Author: Mildon, Marsha
• Position: Minority government in Canada

"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." (Winston Churchill, House of Commons, November 11, 1947, A Dictionary of Quotations, www.bartleby.com/100/)

I am normally an optimist when it comes to the progress of Canadian governments. However, I was led to hunt for the famous Winston Churchill quotation regarding democracy because lately (May 2005) we have been exposed to some of the seamier sides of democracy, and it seemed rather apropos. The federal Parliament has seldom been in greater disarray.

Personally, I first learned about minority governments, scandals, and political arrogance from my father who was explaining why there was such excitement on the radio about something called an election as he helped me paint my bedroom furniture purple in 1956. That election led to the first Diefenbaker minority. I grew to maturity during the years of Pearson and Stanfield leaderships, the years when minority governments enacted much of the best social safety net legislation in the world. My first opportunity to vote was also the first Trudeau election, an election that heralded the major efforts toward bilingualism, multiculturalism, our Constitution with its Charter of Rights and Freedoms--a time that codified--during majority and minority governments--many of our most cherished Canadian values, the ones we are admired for around the world.

So minority governments are not without precedent. However, our current minority does seem somewhat remarkable for its participants:

* the governing party is mired knee-deep in allegations of corrupt practices of its predecessor, and its leader seems to have forgotten how he used to forge policies, make sound decisions, and stick to them;

* the Leader of the Opposition is a man who has publicly said he would use the Notwithstanding clause of the Charter to prevent some groups of Canadians from gaining equality; who cannot tell the difference between judges making law and judges interpreting the constitutionality of laws; and who does not rebuke members of his party who refer to a female member of Parliament as a "dipstick" and a "whore".

* the third largest party, and the one that seems at this time most likely to profit by the allegations of corruption in past...