I’ve often heard people suggest they like the idea of minority governments because they constrain the powers of the ruling party and force all parties to compromise. While the notion of “compromise” may sound appealing to some, when it comes to budget measures and legislation it often results in watered-down measures and pandering to special interest groups. Under the last Liberal minority we saw this exemplified in the “NDP Budget”, and more recently we’ve seen legislation get through parliament that contradicts the policy of the ruling Conservative party.

Andrew Coyne makes a strong case suggesting that minority governments are no way to run a country. Here’s an excerpt from Coyne’s column:

Senate obstructionism. Bureaucratic rebellion. Provincial expansionism. Native lawlessness. Quebec separatism. On this Canada Day, the question is perhaps more pertinent than ever: Is Canada governable? Or is the federal government descending ever further into impotence?
Some of this is simply the inevitable consequence of minority government, whose vulnerability invites exploitation. Some is the legacy of many years of one-party rule, a permanent Liberal establishment seeking to frustrate the Conservatives at every turn. (Remember the heat Stephen Harper took for musing aloud, just before the last election, about the constraints placed upon him by the courts, the bureaucracy and the Senate? Doesn’t seem so far-fetched now, does it?)

You can read the whole thing here.