Rest easy political bigots; a coalition is not a merger

There is one unavoidable fact for those of us who cannot prescribe to Stephen Harper's consistent elevation of ideology over evidence and the agenda that action inevitably cloaks: we remain divided.

Discussion of what the Liberals do to regroup, how the NDP fairs as the new official opposition, or what Elizabeth May will do with her single seat on behalf of the Greens, are all essentially moot to those of us who understand that a prolonged Harper majority represents a significant threat to the health and legitimacy of our democracy.

What is by far most important is that common ground be found between these parties.

If long-entrenched political loyalties (or bigotries, as they more closely resemble) stand in the way of a full merging of the Dippers, Libs and Greens on behalf of Canada's Majority of the Sane, perhaps a formal coalition can achieve many of the same results while letting everyone still pretend that they're better than everyone else. As few details of what this coalition might look like have found their way into our Fourth Estate, let's start with a few basic parameters here to get the discussion going:

1. Participating coalition parties may include any or all parties with elected members of parliament (yes, even the Tories should they wish to become more collaborative).

2. Participating coalition parties agree to form consensus on all policy brought to the house and to support the coalition position on all votes before the house.

3. The position of coalition leader goes to the leader of the party with the highest number of seats amongst the participating coalition parties.

4. All coalition parties are given positions in the cabinet proportional to their elected seat counts.

5. All coalition party leaders elected to the house are automatically entitled to senior cabinet positions—even in the case of a by-election requiring the demotion of an existing cabinet member who is not a party leader.

This formula is a good starting point for cooperation and an end to the ridiculously flawed situation of majority parties with minority support (Chretien as well as Harper) having their way with our country.

That the game was fixed long before Harper came to politics and that he has only manipulated the levers already in place is not the issue. Our system is broken when 40% of the population can be calculated and courted and manipulated to form a political legitimacy for power and unwanted change.

The Harper Tories have demonstrated themselves to be in contempt of almost everything our country once held dear. They have brought the worst of America's travesty of democracy to Canada and have found a lively popularity by misinforming the ill-informed. This dubious and dishonorable formula will continue to keep them in power until the other parties find a way to work together and the principles above represent a transparent and sensible road towards this objective.