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Political junkies might want to set their PVRs to record the Danish TV series Borgen, running on TVO this summer. It’s a taut political drama that actually serves pretty well as playbook for the kind of political games we could be looking at after the Oct. 19 election.

Borgen’s plot revolves around the tough choices, compromises and backroom deals Danish politicians have to make after voters cut the governing party down to size and elect a parliament where no one bloc or faction has a majority. Centrist parties manage to put together a new coalition government in which alliances are constantly shifting. An untested prime minister soon learns campaigning is a lot more fun than putting together a cabinet and writing a budget that can attract and hold a slim majority.

Canadian political operatives of all varieties may well find Borgen an inspiration as they consider the possibility that voters on Oct. 19 will take the governing Conservatives down a peg — or two, or more — and produce a minority Parliament.

Coalition governments are a fact of life in many European countries. Voters there aren’t spooked by the idea. But the thought of a coalition must scare the hell out of Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

He knows that in a minority Parliament he would be toast — even if his Conservatives managed to hold on to the largest number of seats. Many in his own party would be pushing for a leadership change.

The Liberals and New Democrats — and maybe even some of the Tory cabinet ministers who have been decamping of late — sense that Canadian voters this summer are thirsty for change. But there can’t be political change with Harper anywhere in the equation.

What party would be foolish enough to prop up a minority Conservative government? Voters would march on Stornoway carrying pitchforks and torches if any leader of the Official Opposition — Liberal or NDP — hinted he might prop Harper up.

Likewise, the leader of any third-place party that entered a formal Tory-led coalition, even if Harper offered one, should know he would pay a terrible price with voters. Consider the walloping the U.K.’s Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg took in the last British election for joining a coalition with David Cameron’s Tories.

Harper will suggest that a NDP-Liberal coalition will be as scary and evil as Rosemary’s Baby, and the only way to save Canada is to kill the demon in the cradle by electing a Tory majority. Harper will suggest that a NDP-Liberal coalition will be as scary and evil as Rosemary’s Baby, and the only way to save Canada is to kill the demon in the cradle by electing a Tory majority.

And if he’s politically astute, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau will keep his mouth shut between now and Oct. 19 about a possible coalition with the NDP. Earlier this year, NDP Leader Tom Mulcair was able to muse about some kind of a post-election, cross-party co-operation agreement. But now that the New Democrats can see the possibility of actually forming a government, Mulcair will be far more circumspect until the polls close.

Harper, on the other hand, is likely to be the only party leader talking about coalitions … badmouthing them. He’ll suggest that a NDP-Liberal coalition will be as scary and evil as Rosemary’s Baby, and the only way to save Canada is to kill the demon in the cradle by electing a Tory majority.

Now, a lot can change between now and Oct. 19. Party leaders can fizzle and fail to launch on the campaign trail. Or they might crash and burn in debates. And a majority government could still emerge on election night. But as things stand now it’s not too soon for those of us watching from the sidelines to muse aloud about the Borgen scenario.

You can bet that clever people at Liberal headquarters had the possibility of a coalition in mind as they put together the 32-point platform Trudeau released this week. Some of this stuff — the promise to restore door-to-door mail delivery, for example — sounds pretty good to postal unions and could have been clipped from the NDP policy book.

The NDP and the Liberals could work together on a number of democratic reform proposals at the very start of a new Parliament. These could include stronger access-to-information laws, greater transparency with parliamentary expenses, better parliamentary review of national security agencies, and a curb on government advertising that is tinged by partisanship, enforceable by an independent commissioner.

Both the Liberals and the NDP want reform of the first-past-the-post voting system. The public is less enthusiastic and may want a test-drive before junking the current system. The NDP and Liberals could agree to implement proportional representation for one election only, promising a full parliamentary review and maybe even a national referendum before making PR permanent.

Senate reform would be tougher; public expectations would be high. The endless scandals plaguing the Senate will hurt Harper in this election with swing voters. But Mulcair’s plan to abolish the Senate outright is constitutionally impossible, at least in the short term.

Working in concert, the NDP and Liberals could find creative ways to make Senate appointments more democratic, transparent and non-partisan. The coalition could curtail the Senate’s power to amend or defeat bills coming from the Commons, and cut financial allocations for Senate operations to the bone. No more airfare to P.E.I. No more cabs from Kanata.

How long could a NDP-Liberal coalition or informal alliance hold itself together and continue to produce good legislation and sound government? Nobody knows. But in Denmark, the Borgen series ran three years.

Jeff Sallot is one of Canada’s most experienced and respected political writers. A graduate of the Kent State University journalism school, he shared a Pulitzer Prize with colleagues at The Akron Beacon-Journal for his eyewitness coverage of the massacre of four Kent State students by the Ohio National Guard during an anti-war demonstration. He worked for The Globe and Mail for more than three decades, much of the time as a political journalist based in Ottawa. He started his career in political journalism at The Toronto Star when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister. He taught journalism at Carleton University for seven years until he retired in 2014.

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