[transplant99]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

What's the difference? He promised voters (in this case delegates at a leadership convention) that he wouldn't do one thing (merge with the CA) and then did exactly that shortly afterwards.

Are you serious? You dont see the difference between that and saying you wont wrestle control of a country away from the elected group only to attempt to do so using a seperatist party to accomplish it?

You claimed that the proposed 2008 coalition would be "illegitimate" and stated that voters may have chosen differently if they knew a coalition with another party was in the cards...well, that's also true about voters at the PC leadership convention in 2003, but it doesn't make the merged CPC illegitimate because MacKay broke a promise.

You are correct it doesnt...and since that merger they then ran under the SAME BANNER without McKay leading the charge and allowed the voters to choose, it was completely legitimate and nothing close to what Dion tried to pull.

Now if the NDP/Liberals were to merge and run as the New Democratic Liberals or some such thing with a leader who never said he wouldnt do that.. you would have a point. They didn't.

The fact is, forming coalition governments is perfectly allowable under our Westminster parliament system even if the member parties have less support than the party with more seats. I'm absolutely not a fan of a Liberal-NDP coalition, (particular one in which Stephane Dion would be PM), but there was nothing illegitimate about what they attempted to do in 2008.

Yes there was...Dion lied about it beforehand. Clearly. Unequivocally. Said he wouldn't do it...and that was talking about the NDP and had nothing to do with the Bloc at that point.

And I am quite aware that coalition governments are allowable under the Westminster system and I have nnot stated otherwise. Bit when that coalition is allowed to form under false pretenses and less than 2 months after an election which saw the governing party gain more seats, it is beyond reprehensible.