Steve Janke points out what would happen.
So there you go. If you are of the mind to stop Stephen Harper and the Conservatives, don’t buy into the Liberal rhetoric that a vote for the NDP is a wasted vote. Seats won by the Liberal Party will be combined with seats won by the NDP after the election is over. Liberal seat, NDP seat — no difference.Is that what you really want? Mike and Jack beholding to Gilles? Chaos,instability,uncertainty? No thank you! The ONLY way to stop this travesty is to elect a Conservative majority on May 2.
After that, the platforms will be combined as well. Whatever you think you were voting for, forget about it. The Liberal platform will be put on the table along with the NDP platform, subject to horse-trading as Michael Ignatieff figures out what price he’ll have to pay for Jack Layton’s support.
And talking about paying, in all likelihood the combined seat count of the Liberals-NDP coalition twosome will not be larger than the Conservative caucus, so the Bloc Quebecois will have to be on board with this. And they won’t come cheap.
On the one hand there will be demands for great gobs of money for Quebec and Quebec only. Some of the demands will be do-able, in the sense that the money could be found at the expense of spending elsewhere in Canada. Other Bloc demands will be deliberately unrealistic, allowing the Bloc to snipe at the Liberal-NDP team as being unresponsive to Quebec’s legitimate demands. All just in time for the election of the Parti Quebecois in the next Quebec provincial election.
Look for the Bloc Quebecois to veto any action by the Liberal-NDP partnership that could improve relations between Ottawa and Quebec, both to further sovereignty, and just for the sheer spiteful enjoyment of it.
Don’t forget the mischief the Bloc could get up to outside of Quebec. Supporting the Muskrat Falls project with loan guarantees? You can kiss that goodbye. Those guarantees will be converted into loan guarantees for arenas in Quebec (where the national anthem will never be heard).
Look for the Liberal-NDP cohabitation to put up with the Bloc if that’s what it takes to protect their grip on office, especially if polls show Canadians furious at the situation. After the coalition duo is formed, an election would be sheer suicide.