Election: Do you think a coalition is necessary to make a minority parliament work?

The Liberal and Conservative leaders traded jibes Wednesday in a war of words over how another minority government might emerge from the May 2 federal election.

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Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff engaged in the back-and-forth with Conservative Leader Stephen Harper after Ignatieff's interview with CBC News chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge on Tuesday in which he tried to lay out the conditions under which he might form a government, even if the Conservatives have the most seats.

Ignatieff said he would be willing to form a government according to parliamentary rules if Harper wins the most seats in the election but fails to win the confidence of the House of Commons.

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The last time a party formed a government without a plurality of seats in the House, it didn't last long. William Lyon Mackenzie King remained in power after the 1925 election despite winning fewer seats than the Conservatives under Arthur Meighen.

King remained prime minister with the support of the Progressives, the party with the third-most seats, although it wasn't a coalition since the Progressives weren't given cabinet seats. The government lasted six months and its defeat precipitated the King-Byng Affair.

Do you think a minority parliament could work? Do you think a coalition is necessary to make a minority parliament work?





(The survey is not scientific. Results are based on the readers' responses.)