Now that Michael Ignatieff has decided to pull the trigger and defeat the conservative government at the earliest possible date this fall, I can’t help but think that the election to follow will result in a re-birth of the Liberal, NDP and Bloq coalition. Based on recent polls, there is little hope of the liberals even winning a minority government. No matter, they’re willing to roll the dice on an election anyway, just as the economy has started to recover. This doesn’t sound like a decision based on what is best for Canadians. It sounds more likely that the liberals fear they’ll never have a better opportunity to govern and a coalition government would achieve that goal. If a coalition government is what is being planned, then the only hope Canadians have of avoiding this fate is do the obvious, give the conservatives a majority government.
It could also be about forming a government that represents an actual majority of Canadians rather than a small minority of them. I think you actually overestimate the Liberals in this, I think they believe they can win a majority. I agree, this seems unlikely. I hope they are wise enough to consider a signed coalition option with the NDP. As with the previous coalition proposal, the Bloc would not be officially in it but may be asked to support it. If the Libs+NDP can't reach a majority it would still be a minority but one representing more Canadians than the Conservatives and giving a voice to Quebeckers as well. There is nothing wrong with this, democracy is about the will of the people and coalition strikes a compromise between the indecision of the electorate for the alternatives to the party the majority of them do not want to win, the Conservatives.
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