Canadians may not be use to minority governments but it doesn't mean they don't work, says Aaron Freeman, co-author of The Laws of Government: The Legal Foundations of Canadian Democracy, and a faculty member at the University of Ottawa.

'It's a bit of a myth that minority governments aren't productive,' says Freeman.

There have been 11 minority governments in Canadian history at the federal level and a number provincially.

Speculation for months has been suggesting the Yukon may once again be joining the minority club following today's election.

A minority government occurs when no political party succeeds in winning more than 50 per cent of the seats in the assembly, and the governing caucus ends up having less seats than the combined total in the opposition benches.

If this occurs when the polls close tonight, the commissioner will be obligated to ask the leader of the party winning the most seats to form government, says Freeman.

But with the most recent polls suggesting the election will still be a close one, some speculation is also suggesting the Yukon may also experience a unique situation of a equal three-way split of seats, with each party taking six of the 18 seats in the assembly.

'I don't even know if that situation has ever arisen in another Commonwealth,' says Freeman.

An equal split would mean the incumbent Yukon Party government would be given 'first crack' at trying to form government and winning the support of the house.

But it's a little more complicated than that, says Freeman.

'The definition of leader is the person who holds the confidence of the elected body,' he says.

To hold that confidence, the leader must have the support of the other MLAs to govern, he adds.

It would be up to the Yukon Party and incumbent Premier Dennis Fentie to decide if they wanted to appear before the house.

In some ways, doing so would be easier than it would be in a different minority situation, says Freeman.

The government would only need to win the support of one other party to maintain the confidence of the house. It would mean the cabinet must be willing to negotiate support from parliament and the majority vote needed to pass legislation would likely vary from issue to issue and bill to bill.

Some of this talk would likely take place between the party leaders prior to the meeting of the house, says Floyd McCormick, deputy clerk of the Yukon legislative assembly.

The commissioner would also likely be meeting with the party leaders to see if any one of them feels able to govern with the confidence of the rest of the assembly, adds McCormick.

In Ontario, the Liberals formed a minority government from 1985 to 1987 and managed to keep hold of power through an agreement with the NDP.

The NDP agreed to support the Liberals for two years on all confidence and budget legislation in exchange for the passage of certain party proposed measures.

But, if the Yukon Party finds itself in a situation where it is unable to govern, there's no example in Canada to look to on how to deal with a three-way split, says Freeman.

How the Yukon deals with the hypothetical situation would set a precedence for the rest of the country and provide a point of reference for other countries in the Commonwealth, he says.

'It's a question of whether any of the other leaders could command the confidence of the house and are able to convince the commissioner of that,' says McCormick.

If they can't, Freeman says the commissioner would likely be forced to decide on who would form government based on the distribution of the popular vote in the election, if the incumbent party felt unable to govern.

'But there is no precedence for that,' he says. 'Establishing who a premier will be could be a very difficult situation.'

In the 2002 election, the Yukon Party formed a majority government with 40 per cent of the overall vote and 12 seats. The Liberals took 29 per cent of the ballots, but only claimed one seat in the house and the NDP had just 27 per cent of the vote but earned five seats.

The first-past-the-post system, which awards seats in the legislature to the candidate who gets the most votes, often means the percentages don't translate accurately into the number of MLAs sent to office, says Freeman.

Current opinion polls may not be giving a true indication of how the final seat distribution may play out when voting closes tonight at 8 p.m.

'It could be really tight in term of votes, but not in terms of seats,' agrees McCormick.

However, minority governments are not a complete unknown in the Yukon.

In 1985, Tony Penikett's NDP government formed a minority composed of eight NDP seats, two Liberals and six of the Conservatives, now Yukon Party.

During the NDP minority, Penikett's government negotiated and signed an umbrella agreement for land claims, negotiated the first four final agreements with first nations and developed an economic development strategy for the Yukon in consultation with citizens. Penikett's minority also fought successfully to advance the Yukon's standing in Canadian confederation.

In 1992, John Ostashek's conservative Yukon Party government took power as a minority.

The Yukon Party held seven seats, while the Liberals took one, the NDP six.

Three independents were also elected and Ostashek managed to keep power by winning their support.

Ostashek's government focused on welfare reform and also signed the land claim agreements that had been negotiated under the previous NDP government.

The final minority the Yukon has seen was that of former premier Pat Duncan after her majority government was reduced to minority status following three MLAs crossing the floor to sit as independents.

But what is unique about the Yukon is that none of the minority governments in the territory were defeated in the house, says McCormick.

In all three instances, it was the government leader who decided to call an election and let the Yukon public decide.

This goes against average in Canada, which shows most minority governments lasting approximately 18 months, says Freeman.

He says many Canadians often pass minority governments off as being unstable and inefficient.

But the reality is the negotiation that must occur to govern often makes them more responsive, accountable and transparent, he says.

Some of Canada's most recognized achievements occurred under minority governments, at the federal level, he says, including: the introduction of Canada's health care system, the birth of Canada's flag, the development of the Canada Pension Plan, the creation of Petro-Canada and the legalization of same-sex marriages.

'Precedent setting laws have been passed,' says Freeman. 'It's a pretty exciting time.'