Doug Ford is trying to rewrite the rules of Canadian democracy by dictating who gets to govern as premier. In advance.No surprise there. Stephen Harper tried the same trick as prime minister to fend off a coalition challenge in 2008, and got away with it — browbeating the governor general, bullying his rivals, and bamboozling the people about the supposed illegitimacy of parliamentary alliances that dare to thwart Tories.Is history about to repeat itself in Ontario? It shouldn’t, because this province has its own distinct and dignified track record of democratic power-sharing in one form or another.Remember minority government? Ford’s Progressive Conservatives are trying furiously to forget.“The people of Ontario want change, not some backroom deal by the NDP to keep the Liberals in power,” Ford declared in a Trump-like tweet this week.Bad enough that Ford wants us to erase our own political history to advance his own partisan future. What’s worse is that his Liberal and NDP rivals are dancing to his tune for their own self-serving reasons.NDP Leader Andrea Horwath promptly took the bait, badmouthing the idea on cue: “I have no interest in a coalition government with the Liberals ... I am unequivocally saying I have no interest in partnering up with that party.”Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne played along, refusing to say “who we’re going to work with or not work with.”Ford says Boo! And they both jump high.All three leaders are being too clever by half, in equal measure. That doesn’t mean the rest of us — the press and the people — have to play along with their cynical game of electoral put-downs, one-upmanship and one-upwomanship that keeps us all in the dark.No one yet knows the election outcome, let alone all those pollsters who publish precise percentages. But we as voters still deserve to know the possibilities and parameters of minority government without the politicians try ...
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