Booklog7
Christopher Moore - 1867: How the Fathers Made A Deal, p.251
The 1860s suggest powerfully that the problem of the 1990s (and moreso today - ed.) lies less with parliamentary government than with the fact that it has largely ceased to function in Canada. When the (1997) election was over, what seemed missing from Canadian politics was that dead, and dismissed, and derieded concept from Victorian textbooks, responsible government.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, responsible government meant that the survival of the prime minister and his cabinet depended, day by day, on the verdict of a vigilant parliament. Members of Parliament were chosen by, close to, and dependent on (for those times) a broadly based and well-informed electorate. Contemplating the results of the election of 1997, I found myself wishing we lived under conditions more like those.