Party like its 1899

How the two-party system took over our parliament and why it's time for a change

I do not see the slightest necessity for creating two hostile parties in the dominion parliament. We look to that body to exercise cool, calm, and deliberate judgment on every public question coming before it, and we should not so constitute it that its time would be occupied in fighting about who should be in office and who should not. As far as the dominion parliament is concerned, I think the system of party fighting might be obviated.

—Lieutenant-Colonel Smith, a delegate at the Constitutional Convention, March 9, 1891.

The more voters turn away from two-party dominance, the more the status quo doubles down and seeks to protect itself. If we are going to respond to this in a useful way, it helps to understand how we got to the system we currently have, to better understand how change might be possible.

It’s my two-party system and I’ll cry if I want to

Parties, as I’m sure most of you know, are not mentioned in the constitution, and their subsequent dominance has arisen despite the wi…