Chretien was seen on his way to his downtown Ottawa office, but when asked about the coalition talks he feigned an inability to understand English.
"Je ne comprends pas anglais," he said.
...they'd think it was a satire. Then they'd point out that we've known Chretien doesn't speak English for decades, and the real revelation is that he can apparently speak French.
So you'd explain the context - Chretien and former NDP leader Ed Broadbent are seriously involved in discussions about at least their parties (perhaps also the Bloc Quebecois) forming a coalition government, rather than sending Canadians into another election. Unless the Conservatives are willing to back down on a new piece of legislation, one or the other will happen.
The response would be, once again, that it sounds like a satire - or at best, an Andrew Coyne-esque fantasy sequence where we're thrown into a constitutional crisis because there's not enough on the government's plate as it is.
It's neither.
As if this wasn't odd enough on its own, the question of 'who would be Prime Minister in this coalition?' is much less clear than normal. Would it be Stephane Dion, who isn't supported privately by ANYBODY in his own party anymore? Jack Layton, who has frequently been described by centrists as 'right leader, wrong party'? Gilles Duceppe, which would be the funniest thing to happen in Canadian politics ever?
This is getting more interesting by the hour.
--Ryan
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