Coalition? Please no.

(Aired on June 9, 2010)

Every time I hear about a the possibility of a coalition government, I cringe a little bit.  Thankfully, Michael Ignatieff today shot down suggestions of a coalition between his Liberals and the federal NDP to take down the Harper Conservatives.  I'm not thrilled with the job the Conservative government is doing in Ottawa right now - not thrilled, but not absolutely irate to the core of my being either.  It's only once I get that upset that I would even consider a coalition a decent option to throw the Conservatives to the other side of the Commons floor. 

When Canadians went to the polls, those who voted for the Liberals did not vote for the NDP, and vice versa.  They didn't even vote for an option that says "not the Conservatives," even though I suspect that option would be quite popular.  Instead, they voted their individual preference, and we are left with the Conservatives leading parliament in a minority government situation.

If there was widespread outrage at the Conservatives, there may be a more realistic mandate to form a coalition.  But opinion polls continue to show Harper's party with a healthy lead over any other party in public support.  Once again, "not the Conservatives" is not an option.

Finally, the NDP and the Liberals are often on far extremes of the political spectrum - usually even farther apart than the Liberals and the governing Tories.  They say politics make strange bedfellows, but a coalition between the NDP and the Liberals would be like sleeping with the enemy.