Full Disclosure
Stephen Harper should be careful when accusing the Liberals and NDP of attempting to steal power.
In 2004, he looked into the very same options in replacing Paul Martin's minority government. He joined with Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe in writing a letter to then Governor General Adrienne Clarkson to discuss possible "options" if the Martin minority should fall. Interesting. This side of the story should be getting more coverage, that and the fact that a coalition is actually constitutionally acceptable in the short term rather than going back to the polls so soon. I think one of the real issues is to be careful who your bedfellows are. Layton and Duceppe were eager to team up with the Conservatives in 2004, and 4 years later the same two men are hopping into bed with the Liberals. The NDP might very well sign a formal agreement but the Bloc is only participating in spirit, something that should be taken pretty carefully. I sense that as long as things are good for Quebec they'll be onside, but don't expect them to stick around once the going gets tough. Fickle, is the word. The other curious part of this is that the Conservatives pulled the controversial election finance reform from their proposed fiscal update, in an attempt to quell the uprising, and so far it hasn't worked. They banked on the opposition only being interested in their savings, and instead of Stephen Harper delivering the message he sends out John Baird, his Transport Minister to do so. That's curious. I suppose after making such a strong statement at the end of the week, it wouldn't do so well to look weak in the face of such upheaval having to backtrack like that. The change in the proposal, coupled with Harper using his prerogative as PM to delay any confidence motions by a week makes them look very unsteady indeed. The opposition now smells blood and are sharpening their knives. I think the real, underlying problems aren't so much WHAT the Conservatives are trying to do, it's HOW they're doing it. Harper has a stronger minority than he did last time around, but still a minority. A minority needs to be seen as nonpartisan on the big ticket issues. Harper has been trying to govern as if he was given a majority, and unless he comes to terms with that he'll get yanked from the game.
