Coalitions, and CBC Comment of the Day

Sarcasm on the comment boards always amuse me. Here's one from a CBC article discussing the Green Party carbon tax by "broughad", in response to a post by "DJ_Winn":

DJ_Winn wrote: "We have too many parties in this Country to ever make real progress anymore."

I agree. I've had enough of democracy. Canada should be a one-party state. We can save a lot of money on all those unnecessary elections, and spend it on portraits of our Dear Leader. At least one required for each Canadian home.

In all seriousness though, the vote splitting in the current 2011 Federal Election is a bit messy. You can see on votecompass (an online tool for comparing your personal views and the platforms of the five* major political parties) that most of our parties aren't really that different: the Liberals, NDP, Bloc, and Greens stand in the same quadrant of political thought.

Polls indicate we are on the way to another Conservative minority. A majority is "elusive", and out of the hands of the Conservatives, while the Liberals are far, far behind. I'm not one to say that we should have less parties - each comes with their values and ideas. But this election is far too focussed on rhetoric - the platforms each party is bringing out are practically scripted off each other, typed out in their favourite colour of ink. The major issues occupying the news seem to be on whether Elizabeth May should be in the debates, and the Facebook-stalking habits of the Conservative Party.

If parties share similar values, why don't we hear anything about coalitions? (well, except from the fear-mongering Harper. oh wait, that's why...). Coalitions are a completely legitimate form of government, and worldwide, they're an effective way of overcoming minority governments (practically guaranteed for the fourth election in a row) and making "real progress", whatever that is. I've forgotten what it feels like. You don't need a two party system to be productive - you just need to get the parties talking. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like anyone's going to break the ice anytime soon.

*some would argue four. or three. or two. depends who you're talking to.