During the history of Canadian politics there have been nine previous minority governments on the federal level, and a number provincially. The tenth federal minority was elected in the 2004 Canadian election.

In a minority situation coalition governments are rarely formed, rather the government stays in office due to an understanding with a third party. This increases the instability of governments greatly. On the federal level no minority has lasted a standard term, and most have lasted less than two years.

Canada's first minority government was a result of the rise of the Progressive Party in western Canada. In the 1921 Canadian election the Liberals under William Lyon Mackenzie King fell one seat short of a majority government. The almost seventy member strong Progressive contingent had little unity and there was always at least one that would vote with the government on any matter. Mackenzie King thus governed as if he had a majority.

In the 1925 Canadian election the Progressives fell to 25 seats but the Liberals won only 101 seats. both losing seats to the Conservatives which won 116. The Progressive were far closer to the Liberals and Mackenzie King as Prime Minister had the first option of forming a government. He did so and governed with the help of the Progressives until June 1926.

In 1926 a scandal over the customs department cost Mackenzie King the support of the Progressives. He thus asked the Governor General to dissolve parliament and hold another election. Viscount Byng of Vimy, the Governor General refused, however opting to give the Conservatives a chance to govern. This infuriated Mackenzie King who felt that the appointed Governor General should not be able to override the Prime Minister. This led to the King-Byng Affair.

Arthur Meighen of the Conservatives was given his chance to govern but his attempt to lead a minority government failed in September of 1926. In the subsequent election the Liberals used the furor over the King-Byng Affair to win a strong majority government.

After many decades of Liberal rule the Progressive Conservative Party under John Diefenbaker won a shocking minority government in the 1957 Canadian election. Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent seeing the mood of the nation opted to step aside and let Diefenbaker govern. This minority lasted only a few months. Diefenbaker's skyrocketing popularity led the Tories to begin preparing for another election. No major bills were introduced and Diefenbaker quickly dissolved parliament and won a massive majority in the subsequent 1958 Canadian election.

The Diefenbaker government ended badly with party infighting and controversies over relations with the United States. In the 1962 Canadian election the Tories won only a minority. This time the momentum was with the Liberals and the imploding Tories were all but incapable of governing. This quickly resulted in another election.

In the 1963 Canadian election the Liberals under Lester B. Pearson were also unable to win a majority. The next three years were productive ones however as a close working relationship between the Liberals and the NDP saw the introduction of Canada's health care system, the Canadian flag, and the Canada Pension Plan. In 1965 Pearson dissolved Parliament in an attempt to win a majority, but the make up of parliament remained almost exactly the same leading to three more years of a productive alliance between the Liberals and NDP.

Canada's constitutional law dealing with minority governments was altered in 1968 when Pearson's government was unexpectedly defeated on a matter of confidence. While this should have led to an immediate dissolution of parliament none of the parties were ready and Pearson was in the process of being replaced as leader of the Liberals. By mutual agreement among the party leaders it was decided that the parliament would continue, setting a new precedent.

The next minority government in Canada was similar. The 1972 Canadian election saw the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau win only two seats more than the Tories. They were again forced to rely on the NDP to remain in power. In this instance the NDP demanded the creation of Petro Canada among other things to support the Liberals. In 1974 Trudeau dissolved Parliament and successfully won a large majority government.

While the Liberals have had first the Progressives and later the NDP to support them in minority situations the Conservatives have had no such partner. In the aftermath of the 1979 Canadian election this became evident as Tory Prime Minister Joe Clark who attempted to govern soon saw his government forced to dissolve after losing a vote on the budget orchestrated by the Liberals and NDP. Clark could have prevented this, but he hoped to follow the precedent of Diefenbaker and advance to a majority. However the dissolution was portrayed as a laughable blunder and in the subsequent 1980 Canadian election the Tories fell to the Liberals.

The result of the 2004 Canadian election could very well be a resumption of the Liberal-NDP alliance that has been successful in the past; such a coalition would not form a majority force, however, as combined they hold exactly half of the seats in the Commons.