It’s been a fascinating political year in North America, with the U.S. electing its first African-American president and Canada’s prime minister breaking his elections rule by calling a vote less than two years into his first term.

Now we have the potential for Canada to experience its first coalition government since 1917, as the Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois work to overthrow Stephen Harper’s Conservatives by defeating a confidence vote on the government’s recent economic statement.

While a coalition government would present advantages and disadvantages for Canada, we need not necessarily be afraid of the change it would elicit, as long as the major players agree to play ball with each other.

Coalitions have worked well in New Zealand.In Europe, Italy’s coalitions have been unstable but in Germany, France, Norway and Finland they have worked. While unlike Canada, those countries mainly saw a coming together of socialist or social democratic parties and those with radical environmental philosophies – the traditional red-green coalition – it’s clear that the general model is not doomed to failure.

Allegations that NDP leader Jack Layton was plotting long before the current global economic crisis to gain the support of the Bloc Quebecois, in case a situation arose to topple the government, are troubling. On the surface it smacks of political power playing at its worst. But given that Canadians gave no party a clear majority, it should come as no surprise to anyone to see the leaders being opportunistic.

We believe the prospects of the Liberals, NDP and Bloc getting along and agreeing on policy for their stated 30-month time frame are poor, given their history. But in a time of economic crisis, now seems as good a time as any for Canada to give a coalition a try.

Ironically, B.C. is preparing to vote again on moving to a proportional representation system in provincial elections. We may well see a sneak peek of what life could be like under a proportional system, since coalitions are a likely scenario using such a model.