Minority games are back

opinion

The Liberals and Conservatives spent most of the last few weeks hissing at each other in the House of Commons. Mark Carney’s government accused the Conservatives of obstructing legislation with a block-everything approach. The Tories countered that the Liberals used heavy-handed tactics to dodge accountability.

Then, like a mysterious bump in the night, there was a multi-partisan deal to suddenly rush through a series of votes and end the fall sitting of Parliament. Several stalled bills will advance to the next stage, a major border and immigration bill cleared the Commons, and MPs left a day early for the holidays.

Welcome back to the ways of minority parliaments. They normally chug along with filibusters and phony wars, alongside conflict and brokered compromise. Until