In the 1951 British general election, the British Conservative Party and the British Labour Party scored 96 per cent of the vote between the two of them. Other parties (notably the British Liberals) received the table scraps. Fast-forward fifty years. In the 2010 British general election, after many years of steady decline, the British Conservatives and Labour received only 65 per cent of the vote between the two of them. Other parties (notably the Liberal Democrats) received the balance.

That is the underlying trend that led to the current "hung Parliament" -- bringing Britain into line with most other European countries, which are mostly governed by multi-party parliaments and by multi-party governments.

It is a trend that is mirrored in Canada.

Monsieur Stephen Harper s'approche à grands pas de réaliser son rêve de constituer un gouvernement majoritaire à Ottawa. C'est un grand projet qu'on pourrait presque qualifier de «révolutionnaire», puisqu'il s'agit de procéder à une véritable réingénierie de l'État et de la société canadienne. Comment expliquer cette évolution ?

La bataille des idées