understated detail: NDP snuck up on Libs? that's a pleasant surprise. Maybe people did notice that all of recent progressive changes were forced by NDP onto Libs... interesting
minority government with NDP+Lib holding majority is OK. Cons can grab majority but will be gridlocked on every move, meaning we'll retain status quo for a bit, until Libs and NDP will decide to call election
look at the numbers. NDP +Libs outnumber them in Parliament so anything they try to pass... including budget is in NDP+Libs hands... if budget does not pass... it's auto-trigger for election if memory serves me right.
Right, the party with the most seats won would get first shot at forming government.
If your assumption is that the Conservatives would win the next election with a majority, then they would be able to form government without needing to rely on any other party (like the Libs rely on the NDP now).
Since political parties in parliamentary democracies typically vote uniformly, a majority party is generally able to pass legislation regardless of the position of opposition parties, which is why I questioned the presumption of gridlock.
Singh just isn’t a winner. He doesn’t get good media spots, he doesn’t push the message of what he can do, he is less negative than Mulcair was, but he’s not inspiring and hopeful like Layton.
Actually the current situation is very similar to Layton’s time before the NDP exploded in popularity.
Ditto. Mulcair was quick on his feet and not at all a dummy. I'd have paid money to see him do an "On what date..." to various members of the Trudeau government.
He got branded as "angry Tom" by a media that really wanted a milquetoast centrist candidate, and he made the mistake of trying to tack right to get respect from said media, only to have Trudeau flank him on the left.