Quote:
Originally Posted by markbarbera
This is a stay of execution.
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Harper's gamble is that the coalition can't hold together seamlessly until January 26. If they show serious signs of splintering, bickering or backstabbing over the next two months, that will undermine their claim that they can form a government. Alternately, the Liberals may still chicken out on the pretext that Harper's new budget plays nicer and that their coalition threat was 'a success' at making Parliament functional again.
Either way, that will be the end of the no-confidence threat and it will be back to business as usual, at least until after the Liberals replace Dion in May and manage to save up a war chest.
In the meantime, the Conservatives have very deep pockets to finance a relentless Rovian propaganda campaign painting the coalition as an unholy alliance of power-mad also-rans, "socialists" and "separatists" trying to undermine democracy by going against the will of the voters. (And they'll do it with a straight face.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by adam
And Harper's not stupid, he knew this would happen when he threatened to pull funding for political parties. He timed it just right.. What a selfish action on behalf of a minority government.
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No way. This was an epic screw-up on Harper's part, and he's in desperate damage-control mode right now. He may still manage to survive this fiasco, but his credibility is in tatters and he will have to tread
very carefully once Parliament resumes.
I expect we'll see a lot less of his habit of making everything a confidence matter, now that the opposition has called his bluff.