Chretien couldn't lose when the conservatives were split into 2 parties (Reform and PC). Harper can't lose when the centre-left is split into 3 parties (Liberal and NDP and Green)....not unless he screws up so totally that his own base abandons him en masse.

They both pretended to have a "mandate" when the peculiar nature of multiparty politics was working in their favour. They both lied about that. Neither one of them had the solid mandate they claimed to have.

No party that wins in this ridiculous first-past-the-post system has any motivation to change the way the system works, because it works to their advantage whenever they're winning. And only the winners have the power to change it!

That is a Catch-22. And it's a curse.