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Originally Posted by Devils'Advocate
Is it completely out of the question for the NDP-Liberals-Bloc to form a coalition government? A Conservative-Bloc coalition would be a majority, but I think their politics too dis-similar to work together. There are major policy differences between the three other parties, but they might just work together to take power?
Or maybe now is not the right time for a powerplay given the current financial situation. What is going on south of the border is going to cause even more of an economic slowdown than what we have seen thus far.... such a move would be seen as destabilizing.
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Good question. Here's how it would work, as I understand it, from a constitutional perspective: following the election, the governor general invites the leader of the party with the most support to form the government. This would be the conservatives, and obviously, Harper would accept. If the other parties formed an alliance, obviously they could defeat any motion the government put forward, and as soon as they defeat a non-confidence motion, this would cause an election. Prior to a non-confidence motion, Harper could also simply ask the GG to dissolve parliament and call an election.
However, the GG cannot simply take the position away from Harper and ask Dion to form the government. This was the center issue of the King/Byng affair, following which the GG's powers were reduced.
The Liberals/NDP/Bloc would need to declare this as a coalition before the election, essentially forcing the GG to come to them first to ask them to form the government.
Anyway, the only way I could imagine that happening is if there was some extremely polarizing issue, such as the conscription crisis.