This poll says 'unite the left'.

[HeresyLives]

One third of Canadians (33%) support a full merger between the Liberals and the NDP. This idea is backed by 50 per cent of Liberal voters and 50 per cent of NDP supporters.

A slightly larger proportion of Canadians (35%) would welcome an agreement between the Liberals and NDP to only run candidates from one of the two parties in ridings where vote splitting occurs. This idea is supported by 55 per cent of Liberal voters and 51 per cent of NDP supporters.

Still, the most popular plan is a formal agreement between the two parties to share power in a coalition government, if the opportunity arises. Two-in-five Canadians (42%) support this notion, including 64 per cent of Liberal voters and 70 per cent of NDP supporters.

The formal agreement towards a coalition government is also popular with Bloc Québécois voters (54%) but is rejected by a majority of Green voters (51%) and Conservative voters (76%).

http://www.visioncritical.com/2009/12/conservative-lead-narrows-as-liberals-bounce-back/

[Bragi]

1. It absolutely screams "It's about coalition, stupid!"

Anyone opposing inter-party collaboration to defeat Harper is clearly way off-side with public opinion.

[HeresyLives]

2. Coalition, merger, I'd support either one.

Anything to get Harper out of there before he ruins the country entirely.

[Bragi]

3. Me too /nt

[HeresyLives]

4. Do you think it'll ever happen?

Our Opposition is in such a mess right now, and at the worst possible time for the country.

[HeresyLives]

5. I guess not, judging by the reaction on here,

to answer my own question. :)

[glarius]

6. The one I worry about is Layton.....he appears to me

to be hell bent for power for himself....above all else!....Otherwise...I'm all for it....Anything to get rid of that scourge Harper.
I could be wrong about Layton, but he always comes across to me as primarily interested in promoting himself. I just don't trust him...

[HeresyLives]

7. At this point I don't care.

He wouldn't be PM anyway, since he's from the smaller party. He wasn't even scheduled to be in the cabinet in the proposed coalition of last year, but it would have given some of his top people genuine experience in govt.

[RedSock]

8. DO IT YESTERDAY!

It will mark the end of Harper's political career. Make it so.

[CHIMO]

9. What Left?

All we have now are corporate centrists.

Not one party is putting any proposal that is called left into any debate.

Canadian policy on global warming.
Seniors increase in pensions.
More funding for secondary education.
More say in medicare.
On and on and on....

There is not one party that is sticking up their head with anything.

Everything is a rear guard reaction to approximately 35% of the people that are high jacking our country.

Uniting the left.

There is no left. There is only right of center!

[HeresyLives]

10. Well, that's up to the voters.

Whenever Layton proposes something, or the Liberal party comes up with what's considered 'left', it doesn't get them any votes.

So, the parties tend to move right.

[CHIMO]

11. So

We don't have a left. Thus they cannot unite.

We have an opposition that might unite. But after seeing what is happening in the US, why interrupt things. Let them unfold.

[HeresyLives]

12. It's just a phrase. And you are well aware

of that.

Certainly, let's avoid doing anything, and just go down the drain.

[Spazito]

13. The opposition will NOT unite, sadly...

We were given proof of that when Layton backed the Harper cabal instead of uniting to bring this despicable government down. As long as Layton is the leader of the NDP there will be NO uniting, imo. To Layton, allowing the Harper cabal to pillage Canada is preferable to siding with the Liberals on anything.

[glarius]

14. I agree with you completely...

Layton, in my opinion is responsible for what is happening in our country now. He is so hungry for power for himself that nothing else matters.
He somehow is able to take advantage of every weakness in the Liberals and make it an advantage for himself. I don't believe he has any real principals....just a cunning way of manipulating circumstances. He is that bastard Harper's best friend.

[BolivarianHero]

15. Stupid idea...

I'm a socialist, and I want to be able to support someone who is explicitly behind my values. A merger or an electoral agreement between the NDP and the Liberals will not allow me to do this in a meaningful way; electoral reform will...but too many Liberals and Tory idiots would rather see our elections decided by a few suburban Ontario ridings that swing Liberal-Tory. If the government is elected by suburbanites, the government is controlled by them at the expense of the superior urban and rural Canadians. I refuse to vote until our electoral system is reformed or until I live in a competitive riding. Thankfully, the latter will become reality by the end of Spring. As for the former, I hope everyone here from the city and the country likes to be ruled by the suburbanite losers.

[HeresyLives]

16. Then enjoy your next 20 years of Harper govt.

[BolivarianHero]

17. Wanna stop Harper forever?

Resurrect the coalition and rush MMPR through Parliament. Barring a generational election like 1984, we'll never see a Conservative majority again.

[HeresyLives]

18. Ain't gonna happen.

No one wants MMPR, including the political parties.

[Ken Burch]

19. It would have to mean shifts in policy.

The Liberals, were this to be done, should be expected to move at least as far to the left as the NDP would be expected to move right. And both parties should be expected to move as much towards the Green party positions as the environment as the Greens are expected to moderate on that part of their program.

And there should also be a commitment that the FIRST piece of legislation taken up by a coalition or "united party" government would be a bill implementing genuine proportional representation in federal elections.

"Unite the left" is not going to work if it's simply phrased as "everybody HAS to vote Liberal, with no concessions from the Liberals on anything in exchange". The combined vote of the NDP and the Greens in the recent polling is equal to or higher than the Liberal Party vote, so the Liberals do not have the right to simply expect to "call the tune".

Coalition means equal treatment for all the Opposition parties.

[Progressive Albertan]

20. Why as a new democrat

would I want the NDP to merge with Liberals?

A party which went back on promises to; fund universal childcare, change/abolish NAFTA and GST. Then slashed and burned health spending, signed and did absolutely ZERO with kyoto, and are now lead by a man who would of took us in to Iraq and condones "enhanced interrogation".

[HeresyLives]

21. Well then, enjoy Harper for the next several years.

[BolivarianHero]

22. Funny...

A man who carries the water for the party of Tom Wappel, Pual Szabo, and Tom Galloway is wielding a Darwin fish.

[HeresyLives]

24. ??? I'm neither male nor Liberal.

I am, however, an atheist. Are you telling me that all Dippers are atheists? I dun thin so.

[Progressive Albertan]

23. I don't see much difference between Harper and Iggy

so allowing my party to be absorbed by the liberals doesn't seem like a good idea.