I've been reluctant to enter the blogosphere, but not because I doubt its value. My son Andrew has three blogs on the go, and the reaction he gets from them certainly proves to me the value of spreading opinions in real time, and seeking reaction in a timely fashion, via the Web.

It's just that there for me, as for all of us, there is only so much time to offer up opinions. I already write several each week, with editorials and columns in The Langley Times, as well as a weekly column in The Surrey Leader and The Peace Arch News. All of these are of course posted on the newspapers' respective web sites.

However, the possibility of a coalition government in Ottawa, supplanting a minority Conservative government which was just elected in October, is too much to resist.

My opinions are based on two things — an extensive study of Canadian history, which was my major when I graduated from Simon Fraser University; and more than 30 years of observing politics up close as a voter, election official and journalist. I've never belonged to any political party, and have voted for almost all of them at one time or another.

Are coalitions common in federal politics? No.

There's only been one formal coalition in Canadian history — the Unionist Party, which was a combination of the federal Conservatives and much (but not all) of the Liberal Party, at the darkest moment in Canadian history in 1917.

The coalition was formed because Conservative Prime Minister Robert Borden, who has been consistently underestimated by most historians, became convinced that conscription was necessary to bolster the depleted ranks of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, then in its fourth year of battles with the Germans in France and Belgium as part of the British Army in the First World War.

The trouble was this — almost no French-speaking Canadians, mostly in Quebec, favoured conscription. While there had been early support for the war effort in Quebec, it quickly vanished and was seen by most people as a "foreign" war that was of no concern to them.

Borden realized that it would require more than one party to "sell" the idea in Quebec. He approached Sir Wilfrid Laurier, former prime minister and leader of the Liberals. Laurier contemplated the idea, and realized the importance of a united effort, but could not quite reconcile himself to the idea — particularly as he knew how strong the opposition was in Quebec.

With that door closed, Borden approached other Liberals — and indeed, many of them, in Ontario and Western Canada, approached him. They were in favour of an all-out war effort and disagreed with their leader.

The result was the Unionist government, which went to the polls in December, 1917 and won a resounding victory — but had almost no support in Quebec, outside some pockets of Montreal.

Conscription was brought in, but between the delay in implementing it, the ability to seek deferments and the looming end of the war, few conscripts ever saw action in the trenches.

However, the issue almost split the country apart and was a major reason why the Conservatives have fared poorly in Quebec for most of the last century, with a few notable exceptions.

We never had a minority federal government in Canada until 1921, when the remnant of the Unionists (who by then were again known as the Conservatives) lost badly to Liberal leader William Lyon Mackenzie King. A new party, the Progressives, actually took more seats than the Conservatives and held the balance of power.

Progressive MPs were mostly from rural areas in western Canada and Ontario. King actively sought their support and regularly got it until 1925, when a scandal forced a new election. In that election, the Conservatives under Arthur Meighen won more seats, but were still a minority. King held onto power with 17 less seats, but with ongoing support from most Progressive MPs.

In 1926, his government fell and he asked for a dissolution and new election. Instead, Meighen was asked by Governor General Julian Byng to form government, as his party had the most seats. However, MPs who were named to cabinet had to resign in those days to seek voter approval in a byelection, and as a result King was able to defeat the government shortly after it was formed.

He used Byng's refusal to grant him a dissolution of Parliament as his subsequent election issue ("the King-Byng affair"), and won a majority.

There were no more minority parliaments until 1957, when John Diefenbaker of the Progressive Conservatives won a minority of seats to beat the Liberal government that had been in power for 22 years. He rode a wave of dissatisfaction and shrewdly used it to engineer a defeat in the House of Commons in 1958. He then went on to win 208 seats and a huge majority.

Diefenbaker lost his huge majority and won a minority again in 1962, and his government split into warring factions and lost a confidence vote in 1963, when the Liberals won the first of two minority governments under Lester Pearson.

The five-year Pearson government, which variously had support from either the NDP or Social Credit (which was led by Robert Thompson, who has many ties to Langley's Trinity Western University), was by most accounts the most productive minority government ever, and one could argue that one reason was Pearson actively consulted other party leaders and worked hard to build a consensus on important issues.

His successor Pierre Trudeau won a majority in 1968, but lost it in 1972. He was just two seats ahead of the Progressive Conservatives, but governed for two years with active support from the NDP under David Lewis. However, there was no formal coalition or even a written agreement.

While many NDP ideas became law at this time, most of them didn't last. For example, Petro-Canad was created as a Crown corporation as "a window" on the oil industry. It has subsequently been privatized.

The next minority government was in 1979, under Joe Clark of the PCs. He governed for about nine months, but lost a confidence vote over a budget that proposed a large tax on gasoline to help pay down the federal debt. He had support from a small remnant of Social Credit MPs for most of his time in office.

There were no more minority governments until 2004, when Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin won a minority of seats. He had a tenuous hold on power — with it all coming down to independent MP Chuck Cadman from Surrey North in a crucial 2005 vote. Cadman backed the Liberals, but died shortly afterwards of cancer. The Martin government fell a few months later.

In January, 2006, the Conservatives under Stephen Harper won a minority. Harper brought in a number of popular policies, and finally called an election for October, 2008 in the hopes of gaining a majority. He fell 12 seats short, and now is fighting not only for the life of his government but for his own political skin, after a disastrous economic statement last week.

The three opposition parties have crafted a formal agreement, with the Liberals and NDP sharing power, with a guarantee of support from the separatist Bloc Quebecois until mid-2010.

This agreement is similar to one signed in Ontario between the Liberals and NDP in the mid-1980s, and also to a formal coalition between the Liberals and Conservatives that governed B.C. from 1941 to 1952.

Whether the proposed coalition will come to fruition, or last if it does, is something we will learn in due time.

Feedback is welcome — either on this site or by e-mail to newsroom@langleytimes.com.