2019 Federal Election

[MidTowner]

Both your points are valid, of course.  I was just cutting to the chase of the final outcome.  Both major parties will pay a steep price if they want to govern with the help of another party. And they should.

Should? That makes no sense. In our system, any majority can govern. End of story. We do not elect governments, we elect representatives. If the MPs from odd-numbered ridings want to get together and form a government, they can do that. How is it supposed to work for a minority to govern, anyway, in the presence of a unified majority opposition? The opposition can propose and pass whatever they want while defeating anything the government proposes if they don’t like it.

I do grant that there is probably sufficient ignorance among the population that it may be possible to make the dishonest accusation of undemocratic government to stick against a coalition, but that doesn’t mean it should be that way. This isn’t just my assessment by the way — as I suggested above, there are fundamental (and very simple) mathematical reasons why simply “party with the most MPs” can’t be the rule.

"Both major parties will pay a steep price if they want to govern with the help of another party [without having won the most seats]."

I'm not sure it's right to describe it as ignorance on the part of voters. In part, it is, because we simply encounter the situation so infrequently. But I do think the general sense is "this party won the most seats, its platform was most acceptable to the most voters, so it's incumbent on the other parties to try to find a way to work with them." That's not always going to be possible, of course, you're right about that.

Your arguments are sound, but they're academic. If the Liberals (say) fail to win a plurality of seats, but try to work with other parties to govern regardless, the argument will be that a vote for the Liberals is a vote for an unknown platform consisting of Liberal and others' policies. That will resonate with many Canadians.