Mulcair and Trudeau have their differences, but can agree on need to turf Harper

If there'sanything unifying the opposition leaders, it's this none of themwants to play government with Stephen Harper.

Should the Conservative leader win a minority of the parliamentary seats on Oct. 19, all have vowed to try to oust him at the first opportunity, whether through a non-confidence motion, or, as NDP Leader Tom Mulcair has suggested, a coalition.

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Not surprisingly,thiscampaign, like most,has been marked by hostility, much of it, targeting the prime minister. Yet there's been a fair amountof animositybetweenMulcair and Liberal LeaderJustin Trudeau. And it raises the question of whetherthey wouldbe able to put those feelings aside to topple Harper.

With only days left in the campaign, the topic of a minority governmentand the political machinations that would followinevitably comes up in one form or another.

Bloc Qubcois Leader Gilles Duceppe was asked about it Tuesday, prompting this reply:"Stephen Harper will not be prime minister, even if he finishes with the most seats, in a minority Parliament."

At a campaign stop Monday, whenTrudeau wasasked about it again,said he got into politicsbecause he deeply disagreed with Harper's vision of Canada, and thatthere were no circumstances in which he could support his government or stand back and allow him to be prime minister.

'Snowball's chance in hell'

Mulcair, whosaid earlier in the campaignthere's not a "snowball'schance in hell"he'dsupport a Harper minority government, said Tuesday that "I want him gone." During a Q&A session with Vice Canada, he saidhe would "do whatever I have to do" to make sure Harper neverserves another day as prime minister after Oct. 19.

But that means there would have to be some kind of agreement or working arrangement between Mulcair and Trudeau. And during the campaign, the tworivals have taken numerousshots at each other.

Mulcairhas criticized Trudeau's support for the anti-terrorismBill C-51 andthe Keystone XL pipeline and his plan to run three consecutive deficits.

Trudeau has accused Mulcair of being a political opportunist, ofsaying one thing to a French audience and another to an English crowd and of flip-flopping on a series of issues.

That two political competitors would criticize one another is hardly shocking. But the political friction between the two seems to run a little deeper.

Some of that surfaced atthe debates in mocking jabs. When the Liberal leader suggested Mulcair's promises were "puffs of smoke" Mulcair responded:"You know a lot about that, don't you, Justin,"a shotat Trudeau's support for legalizing marijuana.

When Trudeau said Mulcair had announced his climate change plan with "pomp,"Mulcairsnapped back, "I'll leave the pomp to you, Justin."

AndwhenMulcaircomparedBill C-51 to Pierre Trudeau's invocationof the War Measures Act during the 1970 October Crisis, Trudeaureplied that he was "incredibly proud to be Pierre Elliott Trudeau's son." He went on to list some of his father's political achievements,including bilingualism,which "as my fatherunderstood Mr. Mulcair, meanssaying the same thing in French as you say in English."

Asked Tuesday by a reporterwhether hehas refused to discuss with the NDP leader co-operation in a minority government,Trudeauinsteadturned the question around to criticize some ofMulcair'spolicy choices.

Trudeauhas repeatedly said he is not interested in any formal coalition with the NDP stressing thathe is "unequivocally opposed."

Hehas said, however, when it seemed more likely that the NDP would run second,that hemight supportan NDP government on a case by case, or bill by bill, basis.

Bad blood

On Tuesday, Mulcair wasaskedwhether there wasjust too much bad blood or too many policy differences with the Liberals that wouldpreclude him fromworking with them.

Mulcairpointed outthat in 2008 he had helped then NDP leader JackLaytonwrite a formal coalition agreement with the Liberals to get rid of Harper.And it was the Liberals,Mulcairreminded, who walked away from that deal.

"I knew what my priority was in 2008 when that crisis hit, was to get rid of Stephen Harper,"Mulcairsaid."I know what my priority is in this election. It's to get rid of Stephen Harper. Every time I've opened that door to the Liberals, it's JustinTrudeauwho has taken it on himself to slam that door shut."

MulcairsaidTrudeauismaking it personalwhen he says he can work with the NDP but not with him.

"They have been letting me have it since the beginning of the campaign, that's a big difference," Mulcair said. "Justin Trudeau's been fighting me more than he has been fighting Stephen Harper. My opponent is Stephen Harper in this campaign."

It will certainly be challenging for the two to work together. For example, the Liberals immediately put out a news release afterMulcair'scomments, saying that he "falsely claims he does not criticizeLiberals,"that there are "30 negative references" to Liberals orTrudeauin the "flawed NDP platform" and that it justdemonstratesthat he will "say whatever is politically convenient."

Butdespite all the political rhetoric andhostility,neither really has much of achoice if they want to topple a minority Harper government,they will be forced tofind a way through it.

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