Twilight of the Tories

It really looks like it's happening:

The Liberals and New Democrats signed an agreement on Monday to form an unprecedented coalition government, with a written pledge of support from the Bloc Québécois, if they are successful in ousting the minority Conservative government in a coming confidence vote.

The accord between parties led by Stéphane Dion, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe came just hours after Liberal caucus members agreed unanimously that Dion would stay on to lead the Liberal-NDP coalition, with support in the House of Commons from Bloc MPs.

From the CBC. The full text of the agreement is here. The Reformatories are now panicking, of course, but I really think they went too far when they covertly taped an NDP conference call. That sort of shit tends to undermine any remaining credibility they might have had.

So what now? A coalition is an interesting prospect; the new government will face big challenges, though:

The benchmark TSX index took a record dive Monday, dropping 864.41 points, or 9.3 per cent, to 8,406.21.

The percentage drop was the second-biggest on record, after the 11.3 per cent plunge on Black Monday, Oct. 19, 1987. The TSX point fall broke the record set on Sept. 29, when it fell by 840.93 points.

The Dow Jones industrial average also plummeted, falling 679.95 points, or 7.7 per cent, to 8,149.

Not an easy task governing the country under circumstances like this. The new government will indeed likely have to go into deficit if they hope to significantly soften the economic blows we're likely to be taking in the next few years.