All things Canadian.....

Harper responding to questions about a Conservative minority government:

In a message clearly aimed at his rivals, particularly NDP Leader Jack Layton, Harper said he's willing to make compromises in dealing with them.
"I have a history, in terms of reuniting the (Canadian) Alliance and the Conservative party in being able to bring people together without asking people to sacrifice their most fundamental beliefs," Harper said.
"That's what you have to do in a minority Parliament. You do have to make compromises, but they can't be compromises that ask your own party or other parties to stand on their heads and swallow themselves whole."
Implementing his party's five key priorities, which include a comprehensive crackdown on crime, cutting the GST, an annual child-care benefit, a patient wait-time guarantee and a federal Accountability Act to help clean up the federal government, is his starting point.
If elected, he's willing to enterain Liberal and NDP ideas as long as they fall within the Conservatives' "general philosophical framework."
Harper said he takes encouragement from the fact Hamm has managed to find so much common ground with New Democrats _ something that might be transplanted to the federal level.

Only recently, with the Conservative upswing, has the seat projections shown that a CPC/NDP combination would have the 155+ seats required to pass legislation.

Combining the latest three national polls provides this projection:

The national seat breakdown looks like this:
Conservatives 139
Liberals 82
Bloc 65
NDP 22
In Ontario, the Tories lead the Grits 61-33 in seat totals. In Quebec, the Tories pick up 2 seats. Liberals still dominate Atlantic Canada, but are shut out in Alberta.

Lots of time left in this thing.