To coalesce or not to coalesce?

Rosemary Barton

That is the question of the day here on Parliament Hill.

Well, one of them anyway.

So, here's some background you might find interesting.

There have been no talks in recent days between the two main parties in the proposed coalition, the NDP and the Liberals.

Now, in all fairness, for a while there the NDP didn't really have anyone to talk to at all. The Liberal leadership was in such a state of flux that it would have been hard to even know what phone number to call. So, the party patiently waited.

But, now, it's a different story.

Michael Ignatieff is the new leader and we'll hear from him later today.

So, one would imagine the NDP's Jack Layton would just give him a dingle and sort out this whole coalition thingy.

Not quite.

For now anyway there are no plans for the two men to speak.

The NDP obviously wants to meet and talk to Ignatieff and see how to move forward with a coalition. And perhaps even to remind him that he was, indeed, one of the MPs that signed that petition to the Governor General expressing a lack of confidence in the government and the willingness to form an alternative.

I'm pretty sure they'll want to remind him of that. But, for now anyway, the NDP continues to wait.

— Rosemary Barton