The Prime Minister avoids a pink slip.
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The PM’s twisted address to the nation last night was one for the ages.
In contrast to the vein-popping rhetoric spewed only hours earlier in the House, the PM smiled an assassin’s smile for the TV cameras while sticking a long knife in the cause of national unity.
Total time on the air: less than five minutes. Total number of times he uttered the word “separatist”: four. Staggering.
Harper could have done the smart thing and offered to meet with the Lib-NDP coalition to discuss a compromise. Maybe hinted at a plan to deal with the linchpin issue in all of this, the bleeding economy.
But the message was clear. If he’s going down, then he’s going to take the country down with him.
It was a different Harper, not necessarily conciliatory, though, that emerged from Rideau Hall this morning to announce that the Governor General has done the unprecedented and granted his request to prorogue Parliament.
In return, the GG appears to have extracted a promise from Harper to table a budget when the House reconvenes in six weeks time.
Harper told reporters the document will contain an economic stimulus package.
Coalition forces shouldn’t despair that some wind has been knocked out of their sails.
What the Tory plan will look like is anybody’s guess, but Harper is a creature of habit.
If history holds he’ll do as little as needs to be done, perhaps piece off the Bloc to repair damage from the damaging “separatist” rhetoric, to avoid a no confidence vote.
Will the coalition be sold?
By then it may already be too late to save the economy.
Voters in Harper’s oil-rich base out West take note. This morning the price of crude fell to a four-year low of $45 a barrel. That gravy train is going off the rails fast.
Tell us what you think of the PM’s latest ploy to avoid stepping down.
