It's not about Dion
There are various media reports (this one typical) indicating severe pressure on Canadian Liberal Party leader Stephane Dion to resign, and that a number of people assume that this would remove the only serious stumbling block to the Liberal/NDP/Bloc coalition.
That's wrong. The issue is the coalition itself.
Canada has two major parties (Liberal and Conservative) and two minor parties (the Bloc, which only runs in Quebec, and the NDP, which has extreme economic views). The major parties at least nominally try to present platforms that take in all of Canada, and try to attract a majority of voters, while the minor parties have narrower positions that may be appreciated by their bases, but which are inimical to a majority of Canadians. The only way the minor parties can get their hands anywhere near the levers of power is to engineer a situation where they hold the balance of power, as in a coalition government. However, a government that has to cater to their views, one that has to stir three positions into a pot and serve up the result, is going to serve up a lot that sticks in the craw of folk who aren't in the tiny intersection of the two minority party target demographics.
Another issue is that the coalition idea wasn't presented to the voters in the recent (October) election, other than for the leaders to say "no" and that their parties would stay at arms' length from the others. That means the parties are mandated to keep their pants on and stay out of bed with each other.
One hopes that over the holiday break the two major parties will calm down, fill themselves with festive cheer, and find common ground to reach across to each other with moderate mainstream policies good for the majority of Canadians.
That's wrong. The issue is the coalition itself.
Canada has two major parties (Liberal and Conservative) and two minor parties (the Bloc, which only runs in Quebec, and the NDP, which has extreme economic views). The major parties at least nominally try to present platforms that take in all of Canada, and try to attract a majority of voters, while the minor parties have narrower positions that may be appreciated by their bases, but which are inimical to a majority of Canadians. The only way the minor parties can get their hands anywhere near the levers of power is to engineer a situation where they hold the balance of power, as in a coalition government. However, a government that has to cater to their views, one that has to stir three positions into a pot and serve up the result, is going to serve up a lot that sticks in the craw of folk who aren't in the tiny intersection of the two minority party target demographics.
Another issue is that the coalition idea wasn't presented to the voters in the recent (October) election, other than for the leaders to say "no" and that their parties would stay at arms' length from the others. That means the parties are mandated to keep their pants on and stay out of bed with each other.
One hopes that over the holiday break the two major parties will calm down, fill themselves with festive cheer, and find common ground to reach across to each other with moderate mainstream policies good for the majority of Canadians.