McLeod Group Blog, Sept. 24, 2015
Oh, it’s a long long while from May to December
But the days grow short when you reach September
—September Song, Maxwell Anderson, 1938
In May, the NDP published a policy paper entitled ‘Canada cares: Our vision for international development cooperation‘. The overall policy was very good. Among other things, it pledged to reverse the dramatic cuts made by the Harper government. ‘Under the Conservatives,’ the paper lamented, ‘Canada’s ...
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McLeod Group Blog, Sept. 14, 2015
[Third of three McLeod Group blogs about Coalitions]
In a two-party political system, two parties dominate the political scene, and in an election one has the expectation of forming a majority government.
The Canadian two-party system has become something of a fiction, played out in the hopes and aspirations of three different parties and often in majorities that are that in name alone. The Harper ‘majority’ of 2011—54% of the seats—was achieved with only 39.6% of the ...
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McLeod Group Blog, Sept. 8, 2015
[First of three blogs on the subject of coalition governments]
A coalition government is an alliance between two or more political parties, either before or after an election. Normally coalitions involve a formal agreement on the fundamental directions of public policy to be adopted during the mandate of the coalition, and on how Cabinet seats are to be allocated among the parties involved.
Although commonplace in other countries, when faced with the prospect of a Liberal/NDP coalition ...
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