Chernushenko quits Greens over May's 'autocratic approach'

[Birdy]

That last one's for you TB!

[d_rawk]

I find myself in the awkward position of agreeing with all three of you. Isn't this just a giant lovefest

T.B. is swaying me that a leftward move for the Libs may be the best bet after all (and yep the NDP are totally less pragmatic, at least when not in government)

Phishtaper is a man after my own heart. Now, just how to force it. Likely the Libs are starting to get a taste of the distorted results not working in their favour for once, maybe we can get them back on board.

And Birdy - yep, minority governments (could) rock. The Liberals are in the precarious position though of not wanting to look like they did through the last Parliament (sitting on their hands) but also not wanting an election. In caucus yesterday, the plan was apparently to only have a "few" members abstain (their seat count is so low now as to make this possible) and leave the dirty business of propping up or bringing down the gov. on confidence motions to the NDP and Bloc. Granted, the NDP and the Bloc can afford another election sometime in the foreseeable futue, while the Libs can't, so that might be handing the gun to your enemy. But if Harper doesn't push to hard and genuinely attempts to govern in a way that could 'make this next Parliament work' (nothing too outrageous, don't make everything under the sun a confidence vote) we could have the makings of something not so terribly bad. And bringing it full circle back to T.B., meeting the other opposition parties on shared ground may be the best way to keep them from pulling that trigger.

[Birdy]

Totally.

I have a hunch (and time will tell) that not everything is going to be a confidence motion this time around.

Just seems to me to be so much better an answer than having a strong, united left party that is guaranteed majority governments because there's less option out there. I'd much rather have a house with seats for everyone and a government that tries it's very best to get along and do what's right.

Unfortunately for Canadians everywhere, both the conservatives and the liberals had their own internal party struggles to deal with over the last two years, and they milked the system to help them get through it.

Hopefully those days are over.