We've just witnessed our umpteenth lesson in what a huge proportion of Liberal voters go Conservative when the LPC is tanking.
Indeed we did. But if the Liberals and the NDP had come out publicly and said "vote for us, and we will run the country as a coalition" I'll bet those Liberal voters would have stayed with their party. They would be comforted that the NDP would be held in check against it's perceived potential for "reckless" spending by it's Liberal partners. NDP voters would tolerate the compromise knowing that it would be preferable to another Conservative government.