The offer

If I have any quibble with Jack Layton's offer to get the Cons back to work in Ottawa, it's that the terms are as generous as they are. If the Cons were to accept, then they'd come away in substance with a free month's avoidance of possible committee hearings - though of course the public cost for Harper undoubtedly outweighs that benefit. And if the theory is that Harper is virtually certain to decline anyway, then my first inclination would be to ask for more (say, by getting the Cons' agreement on some of the Parliamentary reforms the NDP plans to introduce) or offer less (i.e. limiting the number of bills which the NDP would agree to advance to their previous stage).

But there's certainly a case to be made that presenting the best reasonable offer possible makes for the ideal way of letting Harper twist in the wind rather than giving him any cover for declining (or opportunity to distract from the theme of cooperation). And regardless of whether or not the offer could have sought more out of Harper, the fact that Layton is the first leader to actually propose a solution to get Parliament back on track figures to give the NDP a great opportunity to keep up the advances it's already made in public opinion as the Cons' standing has fallen.