Tired of the awfulness of US politics? It so happens that our neighbours to the North have an election on Monday, and it looks to be close.
So I pose this question: Which of the following possible outcomes of the Canadian election would be best (or least bad, if you prefer):
- A Liberal majority government
- A Liberal minority government (probably backed by the NDP and/or Green Party)
- A Conservative majority government
- A Conservative minority government (not clear who would back it, but perhaps they can make some de facto arrangement with either the Greens or the Bloc Quebecois).
- A "grand coalition" between the Liberals and Conservatives. No one is talking about this option. But similar things have happened in other countries (Germany, Israel, etc.) and the Liberals and Tories may be closer together on a lot of issues than either is with the smaller parties. Still, this seems unlikely. But I include it for the sake of completeness and because it's an interesting thought.
- Somehow the NDP and/or Greens beat the odds and manage to take enough seats to lead the next government. The odds of the right-wing populist PPC getting into government are even smaller (they are highly unlikely to win more than 1 seat). But I will list them here too.