A lot of Canadians don’t know this nor do they realize that their Head of State is now the Queen of England. This may be because 85% of these sensible people do not pay attention to politics. [A word of caution, eh? Your American cousins felt that way throughout our history too.]
As with other parliamentary systems, Canada has many political parties but in Canada, business is done by four – Conservatives, Liberals, separatists [Bloc Québécois] and commies [New Democratic Party]. The majority party selects the Prime Minister/Executive.
Nothing much happened to cause collapse; the conservatives and liberals had a snit so they decided to bring down the government. The last snit was in 2008, the Conservatives proposed ending public subsidies for political parties. In response, the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Québécois tried to form a coalition government. That backfired when PM Harper suspended Parliament.
Harper argued that toppling the winner of an election was undemocratic. He said that his rivals were betraying the country by allying with separatists. The opposition called the Conservatives, “Republican Party North” – ouch. Harper won that one.
Meanwhile, I imagine that Governor General David Johnston, Queen Elizabeth II’s representative, is a good guy and won’t start any wars or run off to see a lover somewhere while Canadians wait for elections in May. Could this be why the Australians opted out of this bit of The Commonwealth?
When elections come, everybody expects Canadian voters to do exactly what they did last time. The odds are that Harper will stand pat but could pick up a majority in the Commons. Liberals hope to defy the polls.
Harper has managed to govern effectively despite not having a majority. Glancing south, Canadian voters are likely to leave well enough alone. We Americans can only wish we had it so good.
Canadian Government, Beset by Scandal, Collapses by Ian Austen NYT, March 25, 2011
Here We Go Again Economist, Mar 24th 2011
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