Thanks anonymous... while I agree with you on the Liberals being a defacto coalition I feel they did not have much choice since another election at that time would have further angered Canadians.... they were damned no matter what they did.
With Mulcair and the NDP moving closer to centre I can see the potential of a merger with the Liberals becoming a reality and/or an agreement of support similar to what has happened in Great Britain. First of all a merger would reduce the vote splitting that happened in the past.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/most-liberal-ndp-supporters-back-party-merger-poll-223326102.html
With Great Britain as an example the Conservative scare tactics of a coalition would fall on deaf ears. It seems that the Canadian voter forgets that the Conservatives themselves are a coalition of many.
It seems to me that the government in waiting is the official opposition.
I recall how during Harper's five year minority government the Liberals voted with him or ducked votes to ensure we would not have an election. They were then a defacto coalition and I sense that they are prepared to do that again.