I believe it was you who correctly pointed out that the original intent was to parody Harper's bipolar positions surrounding the "coalition word".

The thread is/was about the election on Monday.

It sucks to be a tactical voter. The way things stand in the polls right now Harper wont get a majority, and has said he has no wish to form another minority government, so it looks like a choice between:

Voting to prevent Steven Harper being PM with a majority government or;
Voting to prevent Jack Layton becoming PM with a minority government...


I really dont know which is scarier... I suspect the later because the NDPs policies clearly are not economically sustainable, but then when they were dreamed up I suppose it never occurred to anyone in the NDP that they might have to deliver upon them.

So if the electorate thinks the way you do, how do you explain the polls?

Not really my job too, but I suspect a lack of trust in Harper with a majority combined with Jack Laytons charisma and a lack of a strong sales pitch by the liberals to differentiate themselves from the corruption of the last liberal government.

Jack Laytons greater charisma goes a long way towards explaining it, and as Ive argued before, most of the electorate seem to me to be sheeple who dont actually think too much about what is proposed in the party platforms.

Are you deliberately spelling Jack Layton's name wrong to make some sort of point or are you that disconnected that you really don't know how to spell it?

Just my usual crap spelling I suspect. Perhaps its subconsciously my Scottish lineage ... safe pair of hands and all that

Ill go back and fix it shall I?

Some people clearly like to hear that they can eat cake especially if someone else is to pay for it.

All of the leaders seem to genuinely dislike each other its difficult to see any minority government/coalition working for any length of time.

What's liking someone got to do with it? Blair and Brown managed to work together while loathing each other, as did Chretien and Martin.

Same leaders as the last two minority governments innit, which were the 2nd and 3rd most durable in Canadian history if memory serves...

Call that working together? One of them managed to string the other one along for years while the other one was constantly trying to undermine the other. If disfunctional government is the objective then a minority would be fine though.

Ok so Duceppe will be up for supporting Layton in the national interest after loosing a load of seats to him?

If it gives the pair of them some power and influence for a while it will happen.

No coalition ever lasts for long though, the suprise to me is how long the harper minority governments held on for.

Should Harper end up with the largest minority I would not be awfully gobsmaked if he figured out a way to hang on as PM anyway...

That is my preferred form of government. Enacting policies and intorducing new legislation only makes the country worse so whatever results in government inertia is to be applauded.

It's looking good for you then with the prospect of business as usual with a Harper minority.

Surely you jest.

It hung on because the oppositions parties did not want another election so soon after the last one. To have forced an election any sooner would have likely incurred the wrath of many voters. I'm not convinced they really wanted an election at this time but they were manipulated into one by Conservatives.

I mean let's be honest if Iggy was your leader would you really want to go into an election campaign with him. He's been virtual deadwood from day one. Hopefully at some point the Liberals will distance themselves from their past and find a leader worthy of the title.