The more certain you are of anything in politics, the less certain you should be.

It was something my dad 鈥� a millworker whose insights guided most of my journalism career 鈥� mentioned to me many times.

Small parallels between living in Canada next to the American political force and living in Holland beside Germany in the 1920s and 30s worried him. If you don鈥檛 pay close attention 鈥� if you don鈥檛 remain politically uncertain 鈥� small things quickly grow large.

It鈥檚 not always bad outcomes that defy certainty, but they鈥檙e the ones that can turn into 鈥渢oo late.鈥�

It becomes more complex and difficult when each of us tries to define what鈥檚 鈥渂ad.鈥�

91原创 City鈥檚 1988 mayoralty election gave me my first clear example of Dad鈥檚 thesis in action. The old-guard politicians were so certain that Alderman Reg Easingwood was a shoo-in, that upstart Joe Lopushinsky (whom they detested) walked right past him.

91原创 Township鈥檚 old guard similarly succumbed to their certainty when Rick Green executed a surprise upset 20 years later.

And of course, the whole world鈥檚 certainty has been and continues to be challenged by Donald Trump, who I鈥檓 certain is going to complete his four-year term鈥� unless he blows up the world first.

Right now, most of B.C. is certain that Premier Christy Clark鈥檚 Liberal government will be replaced by John Horgan鈥檚 NDP/Green pseudo-coalition.

Probably鈥� but I鈥檇 rather bet on drawing to an inside straight.

That鈥檚 because everyone鈥檚 certainty is sitting on a foundation of anger. Liberals are angrily certain they 鈥渨on鈥� the election with the most seats. Everyone else is angrily certain Christy was voted out of office.

But we don鈥檛 have an American-style two-party system in which voters knowingly elect a four-year-term dictator. We don鈥檛 elect our government leader, we elect local representatives who, in turn, choose our leader鈥� and can choose a new one any time, without all the rigmarole Americans face.

There is nothing wrong with a minority government in our system 鈥� in fact, there is everything right about it, when a coalition of minorities represents a majority of voters.

But if only one NDP MLA thinks more like a Clark Liberal than a Horgan New Democrat, Christy keeps the corner office.

However angrily certain you are that that鈥檚 wrong, it is in fact exactly the way our very successful system is supposed to work.

Minorities make politicians work hard.