a week ago, the liberals collectively crowned stephane dion as their prime minister only today to toss him to the curb; not in five months but effective immediately to have a successor before the end of january in time for a potenial election.

given dion's lack luster performance to swing public support in favour of the coalition, his (second) loss of faith by his party isn't all that surprising. he had a window of opportunity for frame harper as shutting the door down on parliament, instead came out looking as the villain trying to overturn the results of october's election. harper came out looking as if shutting down parliament was imperative to avoid a coalition of separatists, socialists, and soundingly unpopular liberals from forming the government. the merits of the coalition's right to take power have been discussed but without the public on side of the proposal, it's legitimacy is stalled in time.

and with the resignation of dion atop of the liberal party, ignatieff is poised to become the next leader as soon as wednesday on a vote by liberal MPs and senators. the sudden shift in gears is that party gave dion another crack last week, only to disappoint and solid leadership will be required to head to opposition once parliament resumes in late january. no doubt, bob rae, the other liberal heavyweight is critical of the secret vote to install iggy as the party's temporal leader.

this development reveals the structural problems within the liberal party these days; dumping leaders, bringing them back, only to dump them a week later. now, a make shift party leadership selection without any input from the party's rank and file members. although, iggy's almost inevitable victory as the party's leader is within the party's constitution, his selection is likely to voice some skepticism within the public's eye as to how the party appointed him so quickly to replace dion. no doubt, harper's war room is already scheming in ways to frame iggy is not only blowing past canada's democratic process but the party's procedures as well.