6. Minority governments usually fail far earlier than this one. Instead of 18 months, this government still stands. That they used what seemed to be every lever available to them to maintain power, is more of a service to Canada than a disservice. They have given it a heroic stand. They have gone all out. If other parties at other times had been as savvy, perhaps they could have survived longer than 6 months.
The most significant thing you missed Kelly, is to note the process of power shift. The most significant power shift that the government has achieved is the shift in the senate. Since the power to appoint senators rests with the government even though it is a minority. It is true a majority government has fewer headaches than a minority. The key obstruction in parliament right now is the parliamentary committees. In a majority, the majority party maintains the majority in committee. That makes it futile for opposition parties to thwart the legislation passed in the house and senate. That means that opposition parties can't get away with the behavior they have today, and committees functioned as they were designed to do--on the assumption of a Majority Government.
Today however, an opposition party need only absence themselves from a vote in the house on camera, then or mangle the legislation or delay it in committee until the next throne speech effectively killing it. There is nothing MPs of the house can do about it. And, because it happens in the warrens and back rooms of parliament rather than on the floor of the house, Canadians are largely oblivious to it
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