Angry in the Great White North

This National Post story is from Reuters, and is remarkable for what it doesn't say.  It says nothing about the Liberal-NDP coalition.  Read the story, and you come away with two possibilities - the Conservatives will survive the budget vote with Liberal support, or there's an election.  No third option.  No coalition:

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said Wednesday that the country needs an election over next week's budget "like a hole in the head" - the latest sign that he will keep the minority Conservative government in power.

If the opposition Liberals vote against the Jan 27 budget, the government will almost certainly be defeated. That could trigger an election at the end of February or the start of March.

"We need an election in February like a hole in the head. It is not the preferred choice of Canadians. We're in a recession (and) Canadians all know that an election is expensive," Ignatieff told a televised news conference in Montreal.

Why an election?  Why not go back to the Governor-General with former leader Stephane Dion's deal with Jack Layton of the NDP and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois, and take over the government without an election?

Of course, it's quite likely that Michael Ignatieff made a desultory reference to the coalition, but take it as a sign that the reporter decided that it was not newsworthy.

And in all the Canadian news outlets carrying this Reuters story, none I've studied has seen fit to edit this Reuters report to add extra information regarding the possibility of a coalition.  Even the standard line about Michael Ignatieff being "cool" to the possibility.

It's just not being mentioned at all, in any way.  Like the coalition is already dead.  Not just dead.  Buried too, and no tombstone to mark the grave.

I wonder if Jack Layton is still waiting by the phone, hoping Michael Ignatieff is going to call to tell him to get ready to become Canada's first federal NDP cabinet minister.  That would be rather sad.

It also makes me wonder what was said at the meeting between Stephen Harper and Michael Ignatieff on Monday:

Stephen Harper had a "cordial and business-like" meeting today with Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff at the prime minister's office.

Harper's officials didn't offer any further details on the half-hour sit-down in Ottawa.

But it can be safely assumed the leaders discussed next week's federal budget and whether the Liberal opposition will support or defeat the minority Conservatives.

But did they just discuss next week's budget?  Or did Stephen Harper share some hint of the discussion he had with the Governor-General in December?  Something to the effect that the coalition is a non-starter now, and that if the budget goes down, the result is an election?

If so, Michael Ignatieff might have deliberately dropped most, if not all, references to the coalition.  Moreover, faced with a broken and broke Liberal Party, the election option is a lousy one.

If the coalition is gone, and the Liberals still can't fight an election, Michael Ignatieff may have decided to prepare his supporters for the likelihood (if not quite a certainty) that the Liberals will support the budget.  He's probably smart to do this.  Stephane Dion seemed to constantly threaten to bring down the government in the run up to a confidence vote, and then led the Liberal caucus into hiding for the vote itself.  That disconnect between Dion's word and his actions was comical to watch. 

Michael Ignatieff seems to be trying to keep his words and his likely course of action aligned.  I expect that is going to continue, much to the chagrin of  Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe and all those coalition fans out there.

Of course, Michael Ignatieff can appear in front of a microphone this afternoon and thunder about a coalition.  But I really don't think that'll happen.