MINORITY GOVERNMENT: FROM PRODUCTIVE TO DYSFUNCTIONAL

Robin V. Sears

The mathematics of a four-party House make the prospect of a majority daunting for either of the two parties of government, the Liberals and the Conservatives. The last three elections have returned minority parliaments, and while a fourth one this fall might see a change from a Conservative to a Liberal minority, a majority seems out of reach. So why, if a minority House is the new normal, is it so dysfunctional? Contributing Writer Robin Sears laments “the absence of working relationships across party lines” that characterized successful minority governments in the 1960s and 1970s. He also blames “the race to the bottom in tactics and personal attacks.”

L’actuelle répartition des quatre partis à la Chambre des communes rend peu probable l’élection prochaine d’un gouvernement majoritaire, qu’il soit libéral ou conservateur. Les trois derniers scrutins fédéraux ont produit un Parlement minoritaire et tout indique qu’advenant des élections cet automne, une majorité est tout aussi improbable; seul le parti au pouvoir risquerait de changer. Mais si les Parlements minoritaires sont désormais la norme, pourquoi restent-ils aussi dysfonctionnels ? Notre collaborateur Robin Sears blâme « l’absence de toute relation de travail entre les partis », contrairement aux relations qui ont assuré la réussite des gouvernements minoritaires des années 1960 et 1970, ainsi que « la bassesse des tactiques et attaques personnelles » employées de nos jours.

anadian pundits of a certain age get misty-eyed As an internal memo on the risks of minority government recalling the minority governments of the 1960s from a senior NDP adviser to Ed Broadbent in the 1980s C and 1970s. They inveigh against the current gener- recalled, “Playing it day by day is extremely stressful, as 1972-74 ation of politicians for failing to recreate those great horse- showed. Caucus has to debate the existential question nearly trading days. Voters keep electing minorities and every week.” As a young observer of those caucus debates on the demanding of the politicians, “Just make it work! Do your NDP side, I can recall being stunned and somewhat horrified by job.” A hunger for the achievements of the minorities of the the rage of some MPs, especially from the West, directed at 1963-68 or 1972-74 era seems alive and well. leader David Lewis, as he reported on his daily juggling act. I have sad news to report: those days are gone and Nonetheless, deals were made and bargains were struck, unlikely to return. with concessions and benefits on each side. Depending on Minority governments in today’s political culture will your partisan perspective, you could say these were produc- remain the childish, high-volume, low-achievement exercis- tive governments: important advances were made in the wel- es that have driven more and more Canadians to distraction fare state, tax fairness and election law. Philosophic and dismayed them about the state of Canadian politics, conservatives could also argue that these partnership govern- unless there are changes in the rules and the players. ments are never a good thing, since the internal partisan A little reality check is in order about those halcyon pressures have almost always led to higher government days. The mists of history have placed a golden aura over spending, as one deal is balanced by a future program parliaments that were, even then, often nasty, disputatious pledge. A longer-term commitment to political partnership and short. The minorities in the 1960s were marked by some in hard times might give the protective cover for tougher of the most insulting political rhetoric in a generation measures, but that is an experiment we have yet to see. between Lester Pearson, Tommy Douglas and John Diefenbaker. In the memory of those then on the front lines, wo things distinguish that period from this: then, there those were not always days of gentlemanly horse-trading. T were strong working relationships across party lines

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Robin V. Sears

between senior figures in each party, Mulroney era were explosive. Young Liberals and Conservatives and there was recognition that the American politics, always a forerunner added a new level of nasty internal most impressive legislative victories of trends to the north, had been on an factionalism to their mutual antipa- are always shared, the product of con- increasingly rapid slide into the cul- thy. For the Conservatives, the result tributions from many quarters. The ture wars of today for some time. The was a decade-long civil war and the politicians and political culture of a left’s incendiary rhetoric in the 1960s division of their political tribe. The generation ago are as different from begat the Nixonian response, which in Liberals held together, but the blood shed in the That epochal victory by Brian Mulroney set in train a set of Chrétien/Martin wars events and political behaviours that continue to whipsaw seeped regularly under the Canadian politics a generation later. In winning such an party office doors. The rupture in Conser- enormous landslide the Conservatives devastated both vative ranks gave birth to Liberals and New Democrats. Both parties decided that their three parties, and it was only way back was to engage in an intensity and a ferocity of this division that con- politics that Canadians had rarely seen. signed Canadian politics to a series of unstable today’s as are our star athletes and our turn set the stage for the Democrats’ minorities two decades later. The celebrity business leaders. Whether successful demonization of Ronald reunification of Canadian conserva- you believe that the instant gratifica- Reagan to their base. The descent into tives outside Quebec permitted the tion, winner-take-all, win-at-any-cost the dark Rovian abyss that followed election of a minority government, culture of North America in the 21st was sadly predictable. and the continuing success of the century is an improvement or not, it is A generation of political activists Bloc Québécois prevents anything what has pushed minority govern- has grown up on both sides of the bor- more stable. ments into the ditch. We may be nos- der schooled in a no-prisoners, shoot- talgic for an era where professionals on the-wounded approach to politics that he residue of those battles is a either side of the table in law, in busi- became a race to the bottom in tactics T new level of bitterness, distrust ness and in politics respected each and personal attacks. Dimming memo- and paranoia in our system. Few other and understood that today’s vic- ries have allowed Sheila Copps and Conservatives from the opposite side tory should not set up an embittered others to buff the blood-stained edges of their family split are unreservedly loser for humiliation, and that differ- off the infamous Rat Pack’s reputation. reconciled yet, and many use any triv- ences of philosophy and principle not An examination of newspaper clip- ial slight to rub new salt in the old need to mean personal enmity. But pings from the era reveals a nasty, wounds. Liberals are fragilely united that is not the era we live in. vicious, sometimes even slanderous around Michael Ignatieff’s leadership, This has serious consequences for rhetoric previously almost unthink- but the sniping along old our political system, stuck as it appears able in modern Canadian politics. Chrétien/Martin lines still breaks out to be in the rut of unstable and divid- Even the sainted Ed Broadbent was not at the first downward poll flutter. In ed parliaments for the foreseeable innocent: there was a level of hyper- such a fraught partisan atmosphere, future. How did we get to a place bole in his attacks on the every interaction across party lines — where annual federal elections are Conservatives about which he would of the sort essential to deal-making in becoming the frustrating norm? probably blush today. a minority parliament — runs the risk The roots of today’s parliamentary Nowhere is Newtonian physics of denunciation from your own tribe nightmare go back at least to 1984. more instantly visible than in politi- if you stumble; it has become a step That epochal victory by Brian cal competition. The reaction of that this generation of politicans are Mulroney set in train a set of events Conservatives was first to become now too often loath to take. and political behaviours that continue ferocious in return, and then to begin Minority government, after all, to whipsaw Canadian politics a gener- to turn the same tactics on those like its older cousin, coalition, is ation later. In winning such an enor- inside their own party with whom always built on what we claim as an mous landslide the Conservatives they were in personal struggles for essential Canadian virtue: compro- devastated both Liberals and New advancement. Following the bitter- mise. Today, however, the compro- Democrats. Both parties decided that ness of the 1988 free trade election, mise over legislative tactics and their only way back was to engage in when accusations of treachery, trai- timing that is the foundation of any an intensity and a ferocity of politics torous conduct and personal corrup- power sharing has, in the eyes of that Canadians had rarely seen. The tion were hurled as freely as wedding many younger politicians, the whiff attacks and counter-attacks of the rice, the rot set in on both sides. of collaboration — of Munich, even.

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Minority government: from productive to dysfunctional

Jason Ransom, PMO The visibility, and viability, of this minority government is extremely difficult to forecast in the months ahead. For the moment, Prime Minister Harper has the support of the NDP on EI reform. How long that will last is anyone’s guess.

Yet at the core of the genius of our that support an often risky compro- on the slopes on the strength of a few great legislative masters — Sir John mise; the ability to look laterally at weeks of EI-entitled summer work. A., Allan MacEachen, Herb Gray, related but separate political chal- Liberals are genuinely enraged at the Stanley Knowles — and of those of lenges to find the glue that binds unfairness of the qualifications for the US Senate (Everett Dirksen, them into one larger bargain. and application of EI support, a sys- Lyndon Johnson and Ted Kennedy) As the employment insurance file tem that discriminates on the basis of lies precisely that same quality, pol- is under review, to cite a current exer- both age and postal code. Given that ished into the fine art of political cise, Canadian Conservatives are the system was invented and imposed deal-making. It is the ability to look appalled at the prospect of a return to by the Chrétien Liberal government, at irreconcilable needs, interests and the largely apocryphal days of tax- it’s easy to see the Conservatives’ beliefs to find the common threads paid ski bums whiling away a winter umbrage at being once again stereo-

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Robin V. Sears

typed as heartless about the poor and t was another legislative giant of choice is typically the product of a sub- the disadvantaged. That the system is I Canadian politics, the former conscious combination of policy broken and needs a further reform is Ontario Liberal Party leader and the agreement with leadership style. Often widely agreed; what the qualifications partnership government’s finance they like a leader for his or her person- fix should be and whether regional minister, Robert Nixon, who was not al or political style, only to be frustrat- differences are fair is not. only his team’s captain in the daily ed by policy disagreement. (Ed stress of deal implementation that Broadbent got very good at not visibly more mature minority govern- marked that unique minority govern- grinding his teeth when the A ment, in a less poisoned atmos- ment, but also the faux coalition’s umpteenth voter in a single day would phere, might reach out to nearby chief coach and referee. Using a com- cheerfully offer, “If only you were the policy files to find a workable compro- bination of personal grace, off-colour leader of another party, Ed!”) mise. We have serious deficiencies in humour and a great deal of alcohol, he Equally common among these skills training, in the commercializa- soothed bruised egos, punished below- non-aligned — or, as party organizers tion of R&D, in private contributions the-belt hits from either side and would sneer, “flaky” — voters is a con- to Old Age Security and in immigrant fought brilliantly to keep the rickety viction concerning certain issues about integration, especially for those with partnership on track. As a participant which they feel none of the parties’ professional training. From one or two in the long, loud, boozy nights in the offerings is satisfactory. Environmental of these dossiers could come a match- private basement room of our policy is probably the best example of ing piece of a political compromise for favourite fine restaurant, where Nixon this phenomenon today. Who hasn’t politicians more interested in heard a sentiment such as the legislative achievement than in The rupture in Conservative ranks following: “If only the Greens knifing opponents. Our parlia- gave birth to three parties, and it were not a fringe party and mentary system does not easily was this division that consigned more credible on the economy; permit the kind of strange mix if only the NDP were not so of unrelated ingredients that Canadian politics to a series of hypocritical about their sup- American legislative sausage unstable minorities two decades port for the auto workers and making does. But a bargain on later. The reunification of Canadian the car companies and green EI could have been built on conservatives outside Quebec policy; if only the Liberals were public pledges on related files. It more believable about ever appears that neither the opposi- permitted the election of a minority delivering what they promised; tion nor the government bar- government, and the continuing if only the Conservatives could gained seriously with the other success of the Bloc Québécois be trusted not to put oil money on the issues. prevents anything more stable. before climate change — then Recent minority experience I’d have someone to vote for? has seen only one large deal that saved worked his magic, I would often wake Frustrating to many minority- a government, briefly, and at the same up the next day wondering how he seeking voters is the absence of com- time delivered significant change. It had finessed us all once again, and promise that would accommodate a was the 2005 Goodale-Layton compro- then smile at his legerdemain. broad consensus — even though a first mise over the Martin government’s The tension that bedevils these year poli-sci student could draft the budget. It has not helped Liberals’ political partnerships is the difference elements of a cross-party environmen- enthusiasm for such risky rapproche- between the red meat expected by tal omnibus that any serious group of ment that they were defeated soon one’s own partisans and the cross-par- politicians could then deliver in a after, and that Jack Layton repeatedly tisan statesmanship rewarded by the functional minority government. claimed sole ownership of the compro- great middle swath of voters in every This my-way-or-the-highway mise. David Lewis enraged Pierre democracy. Few Conservative activists approach to politics has as a backdrop Trudeau with his regular claim of sole want to hear how Stephen Harper a political equation that further paternity of Petro-Canada, one of the watered the party wine to buy a deal aggravates the tensions. The four-way legislative legacies of the 1972-74 with the hated Grits, even if such a split in Canadian politics has crippled minority government. Toward the compromise would deliver chunks of the ability of any one party to win at end, a similar shared irritation poi- soft Liberal or even NDP supporters. least half plus one of seats in the soned the Peterson-Rae accord in Loosely engaged Canadian voters, House of Common. The chunk of Ontario in 1985-87, when each side with their variable partisan prefer- Mulroney-era Quebec seats now held felt the other took excessive liberties ences, nonetheless often hold deep by the Bloc is removed from play. with its contributions to that period of convictions on issues: taxes or health Most Quebec pundits agree that the astonishing legislative compromise. care or Afghanistan. Their ballot Bloc is unlikely to slip below 35 to 40

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Minority government: from productive to dysfunctional seats anytime soon. Less than a leaders. Harper and Ignatieff are tions of Canadian conservatives. decade ago, the federal NDP looked unlikely to survive if they fail to win Those who claim that Macdonald like it was heading for extinction, but power securely. Layton needs to make and Laurier indulged in colourful those days are now long gone as well. significant gains to find a reason to abuse of each other of a similar scuril- Even with a bad campaign, given its stay, and Gilles Duceppe is clearly lousness miss the point. Those men new strength in Atlantic Canada, bored, not surprising after more than knew the difference between political Ontario and Quebec, few see the NDP 12 years leading a party with a self- theatre and reality. Many of today’s slipping below 25 seats. Together, imposed glass ceiling and no chance at partisans have no sense of that then, the Bloc and the NDP take near- power. New leaders may permit a new important distinction. ly one out of five slices from the polit- political culture of dialogue and nego- ical pie. The magic threshold of 155 tiation to be re-established. But I veryone in political life has heard seats required for a razor-thin majori- wouldn’t bet the rent on it. E Stephen Harper described private- ty government is electorally daunting So this is the atmosphere in which ly by his enemies in terms previously when it must be carved out of the pundits expect our politicians to reserved for totalitarian dictators. remaining 240-odd seats. behave with statesmanship and gravi- Equally, the visceral contempt that What makes majority building tas: fragile internal loyalty after bitter many in the Prime Minister’s circle even more frustrating — and that is civil wars today, little chance of secure display about “the effing Grits” is absolutely both Stephen Harper’s and victory tomorrow and only one last genuine and deeply rooted. This con- Michael Ignatieff’s only goal, no mat- roll of the dice for each of the leaders. tempt leads to isolation. The isolation ter how publicly circumspect they Doubtful. leads to ignorance. And ignorance of may be about their ambition — is Two generations ago, Canadian one’s political competitors allows one how high each leader’s own moun- politicians not only respected each to believe in stereotypes. It certainly tain remains. It may appear easy for other as professionals in a shared disci- doesn’t encourage taking the risks the Tories to gain the measly dozen pline, they also often extended each that any cross-partisan deal-making seats that rest between them and a other private support on shared proj- requires. secure four years in power; for a vari- ects. They would drink and travel and We should not be sanguine about ety of reasons, it never was. Now it’s share the pains of frequently unstable this vulgarization of our political cul- even tougher. The Tories are likely to and often disappointing careers ture. In less tolerant political societies, lose seats in BC and Quebec, proba- together. For every public collision such an abuse of political rhetoric has bly to the Liberals. Any seats the NDP between Diefenbaker and Pearson over had horrific consequences. The ethnic loses are unlikely to drift to the right; flags or French, there were a dozen pri- rage of Rwandan disc jockeys was the they will go Liberal. And the Bloc’s vate kindnesses behind the lobby cur- trigger for genocide. The demagogic losses will be to les rouges as well. The tains between members. For all the description of Israelis as “lice and ver- Tories could come achingly close to a Sturm und Drang of the partisan rhet- min” by Islamic politicians is matched majority, despite those losses, by win- oric that helped mobilize party mem- by Israeli extremist insults about an ning one or two more seats in western and Atlantic Successful politics is the clichéd art of the possible: finding Canada, and a dozen in middle ground, respecting an adversary’s need to sell Ontario. More than that is hard to envision. concessions to his or her supporters, and understanding that practising scorched-earth politics means it is your house that or the Liberals, the will be burned to the ground next time. F mountain is even high- er and steeper. They need to more than bers and sell newspapers, there were Arab “culture of death.” A vocabulary double the size of their caucus to win a hours of jokes shared and dozens of of violence grants licence to violence. paper-thin majority. Picking up a small deals done. Canada has built a bastion of racial dozen seats from each of the Liberals, But in the last decade, the demo- and cultural tolerance where such lan- the Bloc and the NDP — an unlikely nization that the Chrétienites guage is neither legally nor socially trifecta in itself — puts them only half indulged in about Reformers — along acceptable. Ironically, that society the way there. Adding 30 seats each in with their devastating depiction of lives alongside a political culture Ontario and Quebec, probably a pipe Stockwell Day as someone who where increasingly hateful political dream, leaves them 20 seats shy of a believed Barney the Dinosaur walked rhetoric is becoming the norm. majority. the earth with men — was complete. Canadians are more likely to become The next election could end the It was matched by the epithets hurled quietly disgusted and disengaged than career of every one of the current party between increasingly embittered fac- violent, but the damage this does to

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our democratic culture is not trivial. platform of key deliverables. Though it ne constitutional expert’s prece- Successful politics is the clichéd seems to work for most of the world’s O dent is another’s convention; one art of the possible: finding middle mature democracies, our current polit- expert’s convention is merely occasion- ground, respecting an adversary’s need ical dyspepsia may prevent it. al practice to another. Some to sell concessions to his or her sup- First, the role of the governor Conservative defenders of prorogation porters and understanding that prac- general needs to be addressed. We claimed, for example, that there was no tising scorched-earth politics means it came close to a constitutional crisis decision to be made by Governor is your house that will be burned to last fall as a result of differences General Michaëlle Jean as there had the ground next time. between the party leaders about the been no defeat in the House, and there- If you denigrate the need to find prerogatives of the Crown in choos- fore no loss of confidence. They ham- common ground with the differing ing a first minister. Again, let us leave mered this assertion for days despite the written and public com- The next election could end the career of every one of the current mitment by all three opposi- party leaders. Harper and Ignatieff are unlikely to survive if they tion leaders and their caucus fail to win power securely. Layton needs to make significant gains members that they were determined to throw the to find a reason to stay, and Gilles Duceppe is clearly bored, not government out. These con- surprising after more than 12 years leading a party with a self- stitutional authors are imposed glass ceiling and no chance at power. New leaders may agreed that this signed dec- permit a new political culture of dialogue and negotiation to be laration should have been tested by a vote. re-established. But I wouldn’t bet the rent on it. But reference to the views in your own political family, it aside the competing views about governor general is the nuclear is inevitable you will sneer at the what should have happened or was weapon in a parliamentary democracy: value of compromise across tribal permissible, and consider the future. a good deterrent to bad behaviour and boundaries. That is the root of the In an excellent volume of essays, overwhelmingly destructive if you are collapse of effective minority govern- Parliamentary Democracy in Crisis, forced to use it. To avoid the years of ment today. If you believe that poli- edited by Peter Russell and Lorne political radioactivity that Australia tics is necessarily a zero-sum game Sossin (University of Toronto Press, endured when its governor general where your victory requires an adver- 2009), a spectrum of Canadian polit- fired a prime minister requires the par- sary’s destruction, then your partici- ical scholars lay out a series of ties to discipline themselves. pation in negotiation will always be a options concerning the reform of the Here are two suggestions for prac- sham designed only to deceive, current role of the governor general tical approaches to the current dilem- delude or buy time. We have had no in such moments of potential consti- ma of a country apparently destined to better example than the government tutional impasse. minority government, with politicians and the opposition’s embarrassing Two in their range of suggestions incapable of making it work. “after you, Alphonse” behaviour on seem essential if we are to avoid the First, no dissolution for three years EI this past summer. sort of collision that removed a sit- after an election. ting government in Australia in 1974 Second, if the government falls, f the next election — this fall or and set the people on the road to another is elected by the Commons in I early next year seems inevitable — republicanism. The first is the need its place. This would provide some delivers another unstable minority for greater transparency in how and respite from the absurd annual elec- government, Canadians will not be on what basis GGs and their advisers tion cycle we seem to have fallen pleased. Digging our way out of the make decisions about whom they ask into. If a government loses the confi- deep fiscal hole that this recession has to form a government. Secondly, the dence of the House, Rideau Hall flung us into will require long-term rulebook the governors general use to would summon the leader of the planning and as little partisan make their decisions about confi- opposition party, who would seek a brinkmanship as possible. Threatening dence needs updating. The rules are vote of confidence in the House. If he to bring down the government at muddled, and there is no agreement or she failed to assemble to votes every fiscal update or budget is likely about the power of some of them. As required in a stipulated period, the to enrage even normally quiescent the authors point out, in the 19th cen- governing party would be given a sec- Canadians. “So what is to be done?” as tury judges did not need to make the ond chance to find new allies. This is V.I. Lenin famously asked. reasons for their decisions known. how voters are protected from their Leave aside the controversial idea Now every judgment comes with leaders’ temptation to foolish antics of a coalition, pledged to a four-year accompanying public defence in law. in many democracies. When politi-

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Minority government: from productive to dysfunctional cians understand there really is no Governments would understand that without any real difference, that the back-door exit from an impasse they they could be replaced, and not play public smackdowns between oppo- will find a solution. The one legiti- confidence games. nents are the political equivalent of mate exception might be war or “Death to the enemy” politics is professional wrestling. Beyond the another national emergency. Only easy and powerful, in the short term. partisan hard core, there are proba- after two attempts by each side have Nothing motivates your activist base bly few Canadians who see World failed or three months has passed to higher levels of financial and vol- Wrestling Entertainment as an ethi- would an election be mandated. unteer support than blood-curdling cal or leadership role model. They All confidence motions will denunciation of the inequities of tune out the cage match and the require a second confirming vote to one’s opponents. Nothing guaran- synthetic rage between our array of trigger the defeat of a government. tees more front-page media attention political hysterics. Ending the “I dare you! No, I dou- than scurrilous attack. And as every Imagine the surprise of this army ble dare you!” childishness about con- tribal leader since the dawn of organ- of disillusioned Canadians at the sight of two party leaders emerg- The four-way split in Canadian politics has crippled the ability ing from a tough weekend of any one party to win at least half plus one of seats in the bargaining session, not spit- House of Common. The chunk of Mulroney-era Quebec seats ting on each other’s “stupid political games,” but rather now held by the Bloc is removed from play. Most Quebec announcing a comprehen- pundits agree that the Bloc is unlikely to slip below 35 to 40 sive deal on an issue of pol- seats anytime soon. icy that mattered. Consider their happy incredulity at fidence in the government is essential. ized human conflict knows, nothing those same leaders announcing their In opposition, Harper even got Layton secures your position and the tribe’s support for a three-year legislative and Duceppe to agree that it was the loyalty better than an enemy’s head agenda. Contrast such an epiphany opposition’s “right” to determine what on a stake. Pour encourager les autres with the Groundhog Day experience of was a confidence vote — a nonsense internally and externally, a sharp recent years — the same lame script, he has now, not surprisingly, aban- delineation between what we “know the same dumb plot and the same doned. Governments are elected to to be true” and the apostasy of the wooden actors on an endless 12- manage the expenditures of the state. enemy, combined with a policy of month tape loop. Their plans for it, and their demon- severe discipline and public retribu- It might be an unexpected box- strated competence at it, should there- tion for disloyalty, is hard to beat. office hit, a return to the good ol’ days fore be the only normal grounds for dismissal. But a Imagine the surprise of this army of disillusioned Canadians at gracious concession by Robert Stanfield to the Lib- the sight of two party leaders emerging from a tough erals when the Pearson gov- weekend bargaining session, not spitting on each other’s ernment accidentally lost a “stupid political games,” but rather announcing a vote of confidence — a mul- comprehensive deal on an issue of policy that mattered. ligan, if you will — could form the basis of a new convention. Except in a mature democracy where and the politics of effective gover- n the cool light of dawn, follow- the threats and intimidation don’t nance, and a wonderful break from the I ing a confidence defeat, or per- work so well. mindless tedium of WWE in Ottawa. haps the following week, in the wake Nearly half of adult Canadians of howls of anger from the elec- don’t vote. Listening to them Contributing Writer Robin V. Sears, a torate, MPs should be required to express their reasons in focus former national director of the NDP vote again. Yea or nay, no amend- groups, in bars and on talk radio, it under Ed Broadbent and later chief of ments to the sub-amendment, thank is hard to avoid the conclusion that staff to Premier Bob Rae, was a partici- you very much; just “Should this for many, failure to vote stems not pant in the Liberal-NDP pact at Queen’s government be thrown out?” from indolence or ignorance, but Park from 1985 to 1987. He is a senior Opposition parties would need to from a conscious smack at the polit- partner at Navigator Ltd., the Toronto- have made real preparation for ical elites and their behaviour. based communications consulting and power or look like idiots for having These non-voters know that much government affairs firm. literally brought the House down. of politics is about distinctions [email protected]

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