Democracy Unbound in Canada

...By contrast, the minor parties made noteworthy gains...

...The Liberals lost 37 seats compared to 2000 and saw their popular vote shrink as well...

...Polls show that only half of the BQ voters supported the party's raison d'être of independence,buttheresults sparked talk of a revived separatist movement and the possibility of another referendum on secession if the Bloc's sister party, the Parti Québécois, prevails in the next provincial election, expected in 2007...

...The newly united Tories increased their seats from the combined 78 taken by their two predecessor parties in 2000, but their share of the popular vote declined from 38 to about 30 per cent...

...Harold M. Waller, who writes for the NL on Canadian affairs, is a professor of political science at McGill University...

...In addition, he was thrown off balance by charges that the government had spent considerable sums sponsoring advertisements promoting the federalist cause in the wake of the near disastrous 1995 Quebec referendum on secession...

...relations are in need of mending after several years of deterioration...

...Early on, though, some pious pronouncements were made about the Liberals not wanting Canada to become too much like, or too closely aligned with, the United States...

...Although Harper did not have time to develop a surefire strategy this spring, he might pull it off the next time...

...Thatpomt was driven home during the campaign by the irrepressible film director Michael Moore, who appeared in Toronto to promote Fahrenheit 9/11 and told anyone who would listen, "I really need you to make sure that Mr...

...Since the Liberals stand to lose from such a change, and too often it paralyzes governance (Israel is the best example), there seems little chance for a meeting of the minds on the matter...

...Nor is the party likely to do anywhere near as well in the next election, having already milked the sponsorship scandal dry...

...But his schedule was interrupted by a scandal involving the alleged abuse of power by government officials accused of channeling money to party stalwarts in Quebec...

...Regardless, the energetic use of arguably unfair ads led columnist Paul Wells, in Maclean's, the country's premier newsmagazine, to characterize the race as "Canada's nastiest campaign...

...SothePrime Minister will be confronting difficult choices...

...and the UK...

...As for the NDP, its pull in Parliament may not be quite what it appears to be at first glance...

...Waiting lists can stretch to months or sometimes years for such procedures as cataract surgery, MRIs, hip replacements, even cancer therapy...

...Even though that meant a weaker NDP showing, the outcome was right on the mark: The Conservatives were stifled, and the NDP demonstrated the virtues of their support to the victorious Liberals...

...Consequently, in Quebec—unlike the rest of the country, where it was a threeway race—the only choice was the Liberals or the Bloc...

...For most of the five-week campaign Martin and his party were not inspiring...

...The high degree of optimism among the party faithful when Martin stepped up last year proved to be misguided...

...But Canadians have found that limits on public resources seriously impact the quality of care they receive...

...Neither of the two major parties can be proud of the June outcome...

...The outcome of the June election was a partial retrieval...

...The Conservatives, viewed as unsympathetic to the province's French interests, have been hobbled here from the day the BQ was formed in 1990, and the NDP is simply not significant locally...

...Child care and meeting municipal needs were also stressed by the candidate, yet perhaps he would have been wisest to emphasize economic performance...

...The Conservatives blew a good chance at governing, while the Liberals squandered their majority...

...He succeeded, reducing the debt by billions...

...The money was said to have been channeled through party-connected public relations firms that received generous commissions...

...A voter who wanted to punish them for their reported misdeeds could either stay home or vote for the Bloc...

...The son similarly fell short when he was unable to best Jean Chrétien at the party's leadership convention in 1990...

...The BQ picked up 16 seats to match its highest total ever, and dominated the voting in French-speaking regions of Quebec, largely in reaction to the scandal...

...With 19 seats, it can join the Liberals to produce an exactly even division in the august House chamber...

...they remained focused on achieving control of the Liberal machine...

...Martin promised to reduce waiting times, but the fact is that the lengthy lists evolved during the past decade-plus of Liberal ascendance...

...It is clear to most observers, for example, that Canada-U.S...

...As minister of finance he had reined in public spending, delivered a rare tax cut, and produced seven years of budget surpluses...

...Although the government could have continued until next year, Martin felt compelled to call an early election and gain a personal mandate to lead the country...

...The Liberals have been sorely in need of revitalization, of shedding their reputation for waste, mismanagement and corruption...

...When Martin took over the Liberal Party last December he undoubtedly expected his own stature to be a major factor in the election, as it had been in the leadership struggle...

...The NDP gained six seats, but more important acquired some leverage in the new Parliament...

...All this contributed to a sense of indecisiveness...

...Moreover, despite its 54 seats, it holds little sway in the House of Commons, because it has no incentive to bring the government down and its support is not needed to pass legislation...

...The Liberals are not averse to this, but during the last decade Martin has tried to shed the party's tax-and-spend image and tame the budget...

...Now comes the moment for him to make his mark on the country's politics...

...To do that he will have to deliver on his health care promises and in general restore his party's damaged credibility among voters, which could be a delicate affair...

...And since what has come to be called the "sponsorship scandal" involved funding various events designed to influence opinion in Quebec on the independence question, the Liberals lost credibility they were unable to regain during the campaign...

...Thus the familiar Liberals are again at the helm (with 135 seats in the 308member House of Commons), as the frequently frustrated Conservatives look on (99), the separatist Bloc Québécois (BQ) smiles contentedly but has nowhere to go (54), and the Left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) sees itself wielding real influence for the first time in 3 0 years (19...

...The Liberal caucus contains some who favor and some who oppose close cooperation with the NDP on legislation...

...Indeed, one of the most criticized aspects of the systemisthattreatment is in effect rationed...

...This record that merited boasting received little attention...

...At last November's leadership convention, Martin's painstaking efforts to capture command of the party organization paid off handsomely...

...His eponymous father strove for the same office nearly 40 years ago, but failed the necessary step of gaining the Liberal Party's top spot...

...The Tories were unable to fend off aggressive advertising that depicted them as a Western-oriented populist movement out of step with mainstream ideas in central Canada...

...An independent won one seat...

...During the final week of the campaign, however, he launched U.S.-style attack ads (an ironic import, since he claims he wants to distinguish Canada from its southern neighbor), dashed desperately from coast to coast, and managed to salvage a minority government for his party...

...The NDP, however, is cool to the idea of cozying up to the U.S., complicating the government's task considerably...

...A precipitous decline in polls in that province led him to delay the election beyond the expected April date to June 28...

...Ultimately the electorate judged the Conservatives unprepared to govern and the Liberals too arrogant and complacent to deserve an enthusiastic endorsement...

...Martin's decision to make improving the national health program the primary issue of his campaign did not help much...

...Nevertheless, Martin may decide to stick it out as long as he can...

...In the meantime Chretien won three electoral majorities and held the eager Martin at bay in the Finance Ministry...

...As it turned out, he nearly went the way of past unelected Prime Ministers John Turnerand Kim Campbell, each of whom took over the majority party, called an election soon afterward, and then collapsed in defeat (in the latter case ignominiously...

...In these circumstances Martin could theoretically govern by implicitly challenging the opposition to bring down the government if they reject its policies...

...In a country where the Liberals expect to win almost every election and usually succeed, losing to Harper would have been a humiliating disappointment for the 65-year-old Martin...

...Rather, they saw a campaign short of new ideas, that frequently seemed disorganized and out of touch with voters' concerns...

...Enough chose the BQ to give it a strong victory in the province...

...The Liberals' standing in the polls shrank from about 50 per cent, where it stood when he took over, to the low 30s...

...He and his team did not give up, though...

...This goes beyond the boycott of Canada promoted by broadcaster Bill O'Reilly to pressure Ottawa to deport two military deserters back to the U. S. It involves continental defense, several trade disputes, energy, water, and foreign policy...

...Another dilemma isposed by the NDP's advocacy of increased public spending, especially in the health and welfare sectors...

...Canada's system has unquestionable virtues: Financed by tax revenues, it is universal and there are no fees for any services...

...voters were not convinced that the expected renewal had taken place...

...Paul Martin waited a long time to realize his dream of holding Canada's highest office...

...Both suffered from too many negatives to arouse the electorate's enthusiasm...

...The other parties do not want to see the government defeated and a new election called for two reasons: None of them is ready for another contest, and the voters might be inclined to punish those who bring about such an event...

...Harper does not take over the prime ministership" because "he wants to snip away at your social safety net...

...This minority government, beyond being a measure of the Canadian political system's vitality, will be a test of the Prime Minister's mettle...

...Reportedly another component of the swing was a strategic choice by many NDP-oriented voters to support the Liberals as the lesser of two evils...

...Martin, who was finance minister at the time, claimed to be unaware of the asserted improprieties, which are still under investigation...

...But the merger this winter of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservatives did succeed in uniting the Right as a credible alternative to the Liberals...

...The BQ is basking in a convincing triumph in Quebec, the only arena that matters to its militants, but their dreams are not any closer to coming true...

...Once he got his chance, he nearly bungled it...

...Quebec presented a different situation...

...No other candidate was able to mount a serious challenge, and he waltzed to an easy win, becoming prime minister in December...

...The NDP has also called for instituting proportional representation, an electoral system common in Europe and elsewhere that ensures a close correspondence between votes cast and seats won, thereby helping smaller parties that tend to receive fewer seats under the plurality systems used in Canada, the U.S...

...The scare tactic may have turned things around in Ontario, where a roughly 5 per cent shift to the Liberals just before the balloting gave them 75 of the province's 106 seats...

...his government seemed to be drifting, particularly when the election was postponed...

...Aided in part by a few Conservative candidates' careless comments—one compared abortion to the terrorists' beheading in Iraq of American businessman Nicholas Berg—the Liberals produced a series of print and television attack ads that raised the specter of a Conservative government dragging Canada back to the Dark Ages...

...Two years ago, as their impatience grew, Martin's supporters forced Chrétien to agree to retire before the end of his third term...

...THE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM on minority governments in Canada holds that they are unstable and usually give way to new elections well before the expiration of the normal fouryear term...

...Technically that is not enough to govern, but with the support of the Democrats Martin could probably operate as if he has a majority...

...Of course, he has the option of calling a snap election to try for a majority, except then the Liberals might incur the wrath of the electorate...

...If NDP policies threaten to plunge the budget into deficit again after seven years of hard-won surpluses, he might be unwilling to go along...

...After all these years, his place in the history books is finally in his own hands...

...MORE EFFECTIVE for the Liberals was a late introduction of such wedge issues as abortion, child pornography, bilingualism, and gay marriage...

...The two minor parties have much to feel good about, yet their influence will be limited...

...Yet to the surprise of many observers, his first six months in office were lackluster...

...Furthermore economic indicators, especially in growth, jobs and trade, have been positive...

...A reincarnated Conservative Party, led by the youthful and articulate Stephen Harper, appeared poised to edge out the Liberals and form at least a minority government...