no, i need to make this point clear, because i think a lot of canadians don't get it, either.

canada is a three-party+ system, meaning it can have fourth or even fifth parties during crisis points. i've argued that the federal system is most stable in a four-party configuration, with parties on both the right and the left. today, the federal system is in a three-party state, but could be in a fracture point (as there is no substantive left, and the federal liberals seem to want to move to the right). ontario has traditionally had three parties.

in a three party system, you have the following:

1) a government
2) an opposition
3) a third party, that is primarily an alternative to the opposition, but can also act as a wildcard in minority scenarios.

what we're seeing right now is this system working: voters want to vote out the government, but don't support the opposition, and so are voting in the third party. the same thing happened in the 2015 federal election. this is not "weird", it's the fundamental aspect of our system that defines it.

so, what wynne is pointing out is simply that the liberals are accepting their role as the third party in the next legislature - which will be as a wildcard in the case of minority, and to provide an alternative to the opposition in the case of majority.

you can assign motives to that, and i agree that it's a tactical shift, but i think it's silly to suggest some kind of psychologically manipulative ploy.

realistically speaking, would the liberals support an ndp budget? they probably don't want a snap election....