Five things to know about minority governments
Now that the May 9 provincial election results are final (Liberals 43 seats, NDP 41, Greens three), here are five things you should know about minority governments:
1 Why do we have a minority?
The B.C. Liberals won 43 seats, one short of the total needed for a majority government.
The reasons seem varied, but nearly 60 per cent voted against the Liberals in the election. A post-election survey by Mainstreet Research found, not surprisingly, that a similar number of British Columbians didn’t want the Liberals to stay in government at all. For now, the Liberals will try to govern as a minority, Liberal Leader (and premier going into the election) Christy Clark said.
2 1952 was year of last minority government
For nine months in ’52, Social Credit held power as a minority government, after the first of two elections to use an alternative-vote system ended with five separate parties represented in the 48-seat legislature (19 Social Credit, 18 CCF, six Liberal, four Progressive Conservative and one Labour).
After nine months, the government fell, but Social Credit won a majority in 1953. They would remain in power until 1972.
In general, minority governments are rare in Canada.
At the federal level, there have been 13, with three having been in power since 2004. First, it was Paul Martin and the Grits (2004-06), then two terms for Stephen Harper and the Tories (2006-08 and 2008-11).
3 Possible a minority government can work
Denmark has had more minority governments than majority governments since the end of the Second World War, and they’ve had few problems.
But Belgium is the more famous example held-up by opponents of systems that might create more minority governments.
The 2010 Belgian election ended with 11 parties in the legislature and it took 541 days for a government to be formed.
4 What happens now?
Tradition holds that Christy Clark and the Liberals will be offered the chance to form government by Lt.Gov. Judith Guichon.
Clark has been speaking with Green party Leader Andrew Weaver about his party supporting her government, but most observers expect the Greens to stay away from a formal coalition deal.
If the Liberals aren’t able to seal a deal with the Greens, they’ll have to tread carefully. Only a motion of non-confidence will force a change in government — budgets are always questions of confidence — so the Liberals aren’t necessarily going anywhere if they lose a vote.
5 A new election isn’t out of the question
If the Liberals can’t pass a budget — or the opposition passes a motion of non-confidence for some other reason — then tradition holds there will be a new government.
However, it’s also the lieutenant-governor’s right to ask another party to form government.
Conceivably she could ask NDP Leader John Horgan if he could form a government — so he’d be smart to have spoken with Andrew Weaver about possible Green support.