On Sunday, the Conservative minority government in Ottawa passed a significant milestone. It has now been in power for five years — which is close to a record for a minority government in Canada.
The longest stretch of minority government was from June, 1962 to June, 1968. However, two different governments were in power in that time, as the result of three elections.
For the first 10 months, the Progressive Conservatives held power under John Diefenbaker.
When that government fell in 1963, voters chose a minority Liberal government under Lester Pearson. In two elections, Pearson was never able to get a majority, and turned the party over to Pierre Trudeau in 1968. Trudeau called an election for June 25, 1968 and won an easy majority.
The longest period a single party has been in power as a minority government was from April, 1963 to June, 1968. The current Conservative government will surpass that record if it manages to stay in office for at least another three months.
That seems quite possible, considering that no party seems ready to win a majority, if another election is called. The Conservatives and the Liberals are the only parties with a shot at winning enough seats to govern, and neither seems able to attain a majority.
The Conservatives have taken a workmanlike approach to governing. While they have paid lip service to some of their party members’ hot button issues like Senate reform, fixed election dates and the long gun registry, they have had little success implementing change on any of those fronts, as there has been no co-operation from other parties.
However, they have cut the GST by two points and have implemented a number of tax credits and other tax measures. Their approach to governing has been ‘steady as she goes,’ and Canada withstood the 2008 global meltdown far better than most G8 countries did.
Stephen Harper will never have a Trudeau-type image, but he seems to be trusted by many Canadians. They believe he can run a steady and stable government that will leave them alone, for the most part, to manage their own affairs.
If Harper manages to shrink the size of the federal government and ease the tax burden a little bit more, while keeping a positive economic climate in place, his government will likely be with us for some time.