Kenny is clear that the Tories are not for sale:
"“We're not for sale to the highest bidder, least of all the NDP,” Mr. Kenney said in an interview with a Calgary radio station. “It's a party of hard-core left-wing ideologues.”"
The Prime Minister says no back room deals, but he can work with 'proposals' from the other parties to govern the country:
"Jack Layton and Stephen Harper both declared today they have no interest in “backroom deals,” yet the NDP Leader did offer the Prime Minister a way to avoid an election.
At a press conference in Halifax, Mr. Layton noted that his party has put forward a range of bills and motions on pension reform, employment insurance and credit-card rules. He said an election could be prevented if the government reaches out and supports these NDP priorities.
“It's now up to the Prime Minister to reach out to us,” Mr. Layton said. “He cannot govern as though he has a majority.”
The NDP Leader noted that if the Conservatives fail to reach out, his party is ready for an election. He spoke in Halifax just an hour after the Prime Minister poured cold water on the possibility of an arrangement between the two parties to avoid Parliamentary defeat.
“We will not be doing backroom deals,” Mr. Harper told reporters in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., today after making an infrastructure announcement. “We're not going to be getting into that kind of deal.”"
So what kind of deal is Harper prepared to do?
One that keeps his party in power. One that does not take place in the backroom. But deal he will, it seems.
So, when we cut through the waffle, Kenny is wrong and the Tories are prepared to take the highest bidder, provided that (1) it does not require Harper to meet any opposition leader in a hotel room and receive the bid in a brown paper bag, and (2) the first move comes from the opposition leader (after all, Harper is prime minister, not them), and (3) if Harper accepts the offer, the quid pro quo is that the opposition party supports the Tories in confidence votes in the next few months.
So there we have it. No brown envelopes. No hotel meetings. But deals are OK as long as the opposition leader opens the bidding.
Now let's see who makes the first move …
