Parliamentary Democracy in Crisis.

• Author: Malloy, Jonathan
• Position: Book review

Parliamentary Democracy in Crisis by Peter H. Russell and Lorne Sossin, University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 2009

The political crisis of late 2008 was perhaps the longest week ever in Canadian politics. But with remarkable speed, we now have a comprehensive academic study on those incredible events.

Peter Russell and Lorne Sossin's new edited book, Parliamentary Democracy in Crisis, is a timely and authoritative collection of papers on all aspects of the crisis.

Sixteen leading experts on Canadian politics and the constitution address all aspects of the December 2008 political crisis. Did the Governor-General do the right thing? What would a coalition government be like? Why did so many Canadians believe that no one could replace the "elected" Conservative government? These and other questions are all addressed in this book, with the depth and insight so lacking at the time of crisis.

One of the key themes of the book is that the events of December were the culmination of pressures that had been building for some time and, as Gary Levy says, this crisis was "not made in a day." Minority governments, change and turnover in political parties, and increasingly polarized parliamentary proceedings have all produced new tensions and pressures in the parliamentary system.

Since 2004 we have seen dramatic votes over motions of confidence, constant brinkmanship between party leaders, new Senate proposals, high-profile floor-crossers, and a widespread sense of breakdown in the Commons committee system--not to mention three general elections. All this has pushed and pulled the system to new extremes. But in the view of the editors and at least some of the authors, "ultimately the system worked" (the title of David Cameron's chapter) and the essential durability of our parliamentary system was proved again.

The book strives "to reduce the knowledge deficit" (xiv) and contribute scholarly yet accessible understandings of Canadian constitutional and parliamentary institutions. A great concern of the contributors is that the crisis showed how uninformed or dangerously ill-informed many Canadians are about our institutions and their conventions. The government is not "elected" directly by Canadians. Coalition governments are neither illegal nor unprecedented in Canada. The authors provide context, background and analysis that clarifies much of the confusion. Particularly useful is Michael Valpy's chronicle of the crisis narrative, which will help us now...