Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan
That's a fair point--it was untraveled ground, and people were understandably a bit nervous about it.
I do blame Harper in part though--he really worked hard to appeal to the lesser angels of our nature during that time period. As you point out, that's unlikely to have been the only cause of the backlash, but I'd argue that it sure didn't help.
In the end, I suspect it might have ended differently had the Liberals and NDP had enough seats without the Bloc. The involvement of the Bloc made for some seriously poor optics.
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The really kind of ironic part about Canada's anxiety surrounding coalitions is that Canada's existence is due in large part to The Great Coalition of 1864. The "fathers of Confederation" obviously thought that responsible government would be an integral part of Canada's future. It's a shame that people see "responsible government" these days as a set of stuffy, inflexible rules instead of a dynamic and self-correcting structure within which a government and its opposition must work.
Man, if only my Poli Sci prof could see me now. Who knew I was actually paying attention in his class last term?
