Modeling Journey

Chantal Herbert believes good things are possible from a cooperation agreement:

Based on the results of the 2008 election, a coalition running on a joint platform and a common slate of candidates could add 42 seats to the current NDP-Liberal total of 114 MPs, bringing it on the winning side of a governing majority.

The bulk of those gains would be Liberal ones and more than half of them would be registered in Central Canada.

In Ontario, a combination of the 2008 NDP and Liberal vote would result in the election of 15 more Liberal MPs.

In Quebec, such an arrangement would translate into nine more Liberal seats — almost doubling the party’s score in that province.

Under such an arrangement, the NDP would add only a handful of new seats to its take, mostly in Western Canada.

The gain for the New Democrats would be the guarantee of a direct role in government for the first time ever at the federal level.