Challenges of Minority Governments in Canada

There have been few studies of Canadian minority governments despite the fact that between 1957 and 2008, 9 of the 18 general federal elections produced minority governments. How such governments manage to remain in power (viability) and gain support for their legislative proposals (effectiveness) has not been investigated thoroughly. Three theoretical perspectives (the rational choice tradition, new institutionalism, and the party politics and party systems approach) are used to examine the dyn