Actually, Grinch, there are two things that could prevent a coalition from forming, but they aren’t the two that you mentioned.
You’re right in that the Governor General could, if the government is defeated, call another election instead of agreeing to a coalition government by the opposition. However, if I recall correctly, on one occasion in the past, the Governor General refused to call another election because it had only been eight months since the previous election. In this case, it has only been... what? Six weeks?
Besides, what would another election accomplish? Isn’t it entirely possible we would find ourselves right back in the same position? Well, except I suppose it would help us decide what to do with another $300 million dollars of taxpayer money. Think of all the temporary jobs that another election would create. Hey, maybe this is the way to keep Canadians working! We could just have election after election.
But given that it has only been six weeks, and that there is no guarantee that another election would change anything, I'd be surprised if the Governor General doesn't agree to let the opposition have a go at making the government work.
The second thing that could happen to prevent a coalition government from forming is that one or more of the opposition parties could change their minds.
The adjourning of parliament doesn’t solve anything - it just delays things. The government could still be defeated in January. So what does Harper do if the opposition still wants to form a coalition in January? Adjourn to February? March? April? May?
(Hey, I’m sort of liking this. We could end up never again having a government in Canada. And as an anarchist, that would be right up my alley. Besides, think of all the money not having a government would save us.
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Also, the Prime Minister can’t just decide to adjourn parliament. He has to ask the Governor General for permission to adjourn parliament and she can say no.
And she might say no. It’s my understanding that she is only supposed to agree to adjourn when parliament has finished its business for the session - not because the ruling party wants to avoid facing parliament. Also, there is the legal question of whether she can agree to an adjournment from her Prime Minister where her Prime Minister has clearly lost the confidence of the house.
Either way, I'd love to be a fly on the wall in whatever hotel the Governor General is staying in at the moment. Now, THAT would be good entertainment. (Bet the Prime Minister is wishing he'd been nicer to Michaelle Jean now, eh
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Personally, I'm still trying to get my head around the idea that the opposition actually seems to be planning to go to go ahead with this. I really thought they were just saber rattling and would back down when Harper recognized that he was the head of a MINORITY government.
Now, my personal opinion is that the way to solve this is to send all of them to bed without their dinners and tell them they don’t get to be on television again until they learn to play nice. Given how much they seem to like to appear on television, that should work.
ML
