Hold on, there. Coalition governments are very familiar to me, having lived in The Netherlands for most of my adult life. Coalition governments happen in countries where there is proportional representation, and the various parties submit a national slate of candidates. The popular vote decides who got the most votes, and that party can subsequently attempt to form a government. Generally, no single party can actually win an outright majority (there are way too many parties for that to ever happen). As a consequence, the voting public is very aware of what the *possible* coalition might look like. In fact, very often, two - or sometimes even three - parties will have negotiated their policy positions BEFORE the election, and the voting public will have had an opportunity to learn about the various potential permutations. If this were the case here in Canada, I'd be all for it. Coalition governments make for stable economic and social societies (eg. The Netherlands).

However. And this is a BIG however: By all accounts the Conservative party DID get the most votes - more than the Liberals, and more than de NDP. (We won't even discuss the Greens). If the voting public had known that the Liberals and NDP intended to climb into bed with one another, would they still have voted as they did? Or would many a fiscally conservative Liberal have chosen to back the Tories, instead? The NDP do have a reputation (certainly here in BC) for being the BIG spenders ...

My point is: this is not a legitimate coalition - and definitely not if it requires the Bloc Quebecois in some form to participate in it. Name me one jurisdiction in the world, where a party that only runs candidates in one province, and whose "raison d'etre" is to secede from the Federation, is included - NAY - funded (!!!) by the Federal Government?

This is a power-grab by the power-hungry wannabe PM Jack Layton, and the Liberals who yearn for the good old pork-barreling days. Coalition governments cannot exist in a "first-past-the-post" system. If the Official Opposition doesn't like the government's actions - it can say so, and the government will fall - which means a call for another election. And Canada did NOT elect the Libs, nor the NDP. It returned the Conservatives to power, with an increased number of seats.

Frankly, I agree with the Tories that parties that are too inept at raising funds from their members should sink or swim on their own. Harper's mistake is one of timing, not judgement.