[metallicat]

http://www.leaderpost.com/coalition+...127/story.html

OTTAWA — The nation’s game of political brinksmanship remained at a full boil late Sunday evening, as the Liberals and New Democrats closed in on a tentative accord on forming a coalition to topple Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority Conservative government within weeks.

The two major opposition parties, which would operate with support of the Bloc Quebecois but provide them no cabinet posts, were close to a tentative deal, an NDP official said.

However talks were still underway and there was no confirmation of the numbers in a CBC report which said a deal had been struck between outgoing Liberal leader Stephane Dion and NDP Leader Jack Layton for a coalition of two-and-a-half years with the NDP getting 25 per cent of cabinet seats. The report did not say how large cabinet would be or which portfolios the NDP would get.