With just seven days to go before the federal election, the liberals and conservatives are still neck and neck. So over the Thanksgiving long weekend they kept the fight going.
But the NDP’s leader Jagmeet Singh answered one question on Sunday that would shift much of the conversation.
A reporter asked if the party would consider forming a coalition with the liberals if the conservatives had a minority.
“Oh absolutely, we’re not going to support a conservative government… were going to go all the way,” said Singh to a crowd in Surrey.
That means if the conservatives won the most seats, but fell short of a majority government, the NDP could prop up a liberals minority government.
And the recent Singh surge has given their words some weight.
“Singh did well in terms of making an impression with a lot of Canadians, so, the poll numbers for the NDP seem to be creeping up and the approval rating for sign himself have really moved up quite alot,” said Michael Prince, a political scientist from the University of Victoria.
“It’s emboldened him to start talking about possibilities of a coalition government.”
But something like that happening is unlikely.
“Coalition government’s are very rare in Canada, we’ve really only had one going way back to the great war, World War one,” said Prince.
And Monday Singh was walking back his words, trying to keep voters from thinking only about the big two parties.
“My focus is not on a collation,” he said.
“It is on this… if you vote new democrat you will get someone on your side, and everything you want you will have someone who will fight to make it happen.”
Trudeau is dodging the coalition question , but Scheer is not holding back.
“The choice is clear, its between a Trudeau NDP coalition that will drive up taxes, drive out jobs and cost thousands of dollars more every year…. and a new conservative majority,” said Scheer.
Experts say a minority government is likely, and we could even see what played out in B.C.’s legislature at the national level.
“This looks like a historical place for the NDP to play a significant third party role,” said Prince.
“Here in B.C. of course with the greens and NDP we’ve had a much more formal contractual agreement, who knows we could see that in the next parliament in Ottawa, but that has not been the pattern in the past.”
But with one week to go, many things could still change. Voters will have the final say next Monday.
Julian Kolsut
