I'll agree generally with Brian Topp's take on the NDP's best strategy for the near future now that the idea of a coalition is receiving some more public discussion. But it's worth pointing out one crucial difference between today and 2008.
Back then, all indications are that the NDP was the lone party with anything resembling a plan for a coalition. And the Libs' lack of advance planning presumably played a substantial role in their being unprepared to discuss a coalition immediately after the election, or to publicly defend one following Deficit Jim Flaherty's subsequent FU.
Now, there may not be much reason to think a formal agreement is in the cards in advance of any election - and indeed neither party has expressed much apparent interest in any pre-election non-aggression pact. But the fact that the Libs' elders have already negotiated one coalition agreement and are keeping up high-level talks about future possibilities would seem to ensure that they won't be caught completely off guard when the opportunity arises again. And that can only help the prospects of a coalition developing and succeeding after an election - even if the campaign looks an awful lot like the one that preceded it.
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