OTTAWA — A year that opened on Parliament Hill with the kind of political instability rarely seen in Canada’s history closes with a remarkable degree of stability absent in the last four years.
Ever since the government of former prime minister Paul Martin lost a confidence vote in the House of Commons late in 2005, the main narrative in Ottawa has focused on seizing or holding power. A year ago, that story’s climax was the creation of a historic coalition between Liberals and New Democrats, supported by the Bloc Quebecois, to take over the reins of government from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives after Harper badly misplayed a gambit to cut off public subsidies to all federal political parties.
But the coalition crumbled and Mr. Harper, perhaps wiser for being so chastened, not only survived but his government seems to have prospered politically in 2009. The Conservatives were surprise winners in a byelection in Quebec; the government’s economic stimulus package appears to be having the intended effect; and, in a few weeks, Mr. Harper’s party will finally have a plurality of seats in the Senate.
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But PMSH is such an angry man with such a dangerous agenda.
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