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What should we expect from the next federal election?
A fair amount of water will have flowed under the bridge by the time that happens, but we can see a few things now.
The Conservatives are ahead in the polls, but Pierre Poilievre is a divisive, love-him-or-hate-him kind of figure (as is Justin Trudeau) and may have trouble growing his support past a certain ceiling.
Given the math, one scenario that's been kicked around in the national political media over the last month or so involves a situation where the Conservatives end up with the most seats but fall short of a majority, but the Liberals, with NDP support, have a majority of seats between them and therefore the confidence of the House.
The Liberals could continue in government in this situation, despite coming No. 2 in the seat count.
That would be unusual. Would it be legitimate?
In a reader poll this week, most of you thought the Conservatives should form a government if this happened, though it was fairly evenly divided.
A north-south divide may be detectable, with readers in northern Ontario - plus Barrie - saying the party with the most seats should govern, and readers in southern Ontario saying that the party with the confidence of the House should govern. There are small sample sizes here, though: we included all communities with 20 or more responses.
695 of you voted in the poll, which was held this week.
