Ottawa

From the ground up

Glenn Wheeler argues that any future Liberal-NDP coalition will have to be driven by party rank-and-file.

It’s up to us envelope-lickers and door-knockers to create the political space for an honest dialogue about getting our parties to work together after the next election night. Unlike career hacks, we peons have little to lose, other than the country as we know it…

But for a coalition to be legitimate, the Liberal and NDP leaders have to acknowledge before the election that they are prepared to enter into such an arrangement if no majority emerges. For Michael Ignatieff and Jack Layton to be able to make such an admission, their respective grassroots must demand that they do so. That way, coalition will appear to be an answer to public pressure rather than the last resort of losers.

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