What are the precedents?
What we have seen in Ontario in the 1980s is an accord where the smaller party, the NDP, agreed to support the larger party, the Liberals. But the NDP didn’t actually get cabinet posts. An accord is probably more of a possibility than an actual coalition government where there is splitting up of ministerial posts. That would be incredibly complicated and unprecedented in Canada. The accord was signed in 1985 between the Ontario Liberals led by David Peterson and Ontario NDP led by Bob Rae. In that accord, the NDP asked for a number of policy positions from the Liberals and in return promised to support the Liberals and not bring them down for two years, which they did. Saskatchewan had coalition a couple of years ago, when the NDP brought in a couple of Liberals from what was a very small party. It was a coalition in the true sense but it was fairly minor and inconsequential in the end. It only lasted a couple of years and is probably forgotten by many people.
