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Still, if Mr. Mulcair’s meaning was not entirely clear, geospatially — mystified Liberal officials on Tuesday denied their leader had ever set foot in the Irish embassy, though it’s possible they were referring to the pub — it’s as clear as day what he’s up to. The NDP leader never misses an opportunity these days to talk up the possibility of coalition government, the better to suggest to wavering left-wing voters that they can vote NDP and still dispose of the hated Conservatives.

For his part, Mr. Trudeau never misses an opportunity to dismiss the idea, for much the same reason. The Liberal campaign, like all Liberal campaigns, is heavily predicated on herding fearful lefties into the Big Red Tent, lest they “split the vote” and let the Tories back in. Having jumped well ahead of the NDP in the polls, the Liberals argue they are the best choice between the two to deliver Canada from the scourge of the Harperites — but more important, that a choice must be made. Coalition? Not a chance.

To maintain this stance, Mr. Trudeau is obliged to insist, not only that the parties are separated by vast, unbridgeable disagreements over policy — my God, do you realize that these people eat their eggs starting at the little end rather than the big? — but that these would deter him even momentarily from striking a coalition deal, if that was all that stood between him and power. This lovely idea might have been more persuasive, if only to pets and children under four, before last month’s astonishing backflip on carbon pricing, wherein the Liberal leader abruptly jettisoned what had until then been the only plank in his platform.