Whistling up the coalition from the dead

[jdobbin]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...ialComment/home

Bottom line: Mr. Ignatieff needs to resurrect the coalition to get an early election, but if he does so, he risks giving the Conservatives a big stick to beat him with.

Certainly strategists like Flanagan are hoping to say that any vote by all three Opposition parties constitutes a coalition but if the Liberals vote down confidence motions in the fall and the Bloc or NDP don't do it, it may be the Tories who are trying to forge a coalition to stay in power by giving in to one or the other party's demands.

If the other two parties do vote for the government, the Liberals will hammer them in the same way they are being hammered and the effect might be to drain away votes from either the NDP or Bloc.

[tango]

Crap, now we have to listen to all parties screaming accusations of "coalition" every time someone talks to a member of another party!

such idiocy. We call this governance? groan.

And we PAY them for this!

[madmax]

If the CPC follow Flanagans advice, it will cause more harm to Harper and Layton and possibly propel Ignatieff even higher in the polls.

I think Flanagans advice is dead wrong and stupid. It would be ok to good advice if things had played out differently, but as Ignatieff has become a teflon man, and distanced hisself well enough from the coalition, this strategy will only solidify a CPC base while turning everyone else off.