what a weekend for political junkies. i don't think i've read more columns, blogs, news site comments more than in the past 48 hours.

edge of the seat stuff, folks.

potentially, we are in the last full week as stephen harper the prime minister of the country. the desperation is seeping through; all with the flip flops of the announcements from thursday, delaying the confidence vote and last night's tape recording by the conservatives in which they were "accidently invited" to listen in on jack layton's conference call.

the tight ship ran by harper was nothing but a house of cards that has all about collapsed. this week is likely to produce more fascinating commentary from the party's rank and file in a desperate plea to hold their governorship.

make no mistake about it; the media is revelling as this political crisis plays itself out. since 2006, harper has been cold to the media with next no access and the first story of which would be out of his control--ironically, by his own doing--they would seize on the moment. even the commentary of the right-winged national post's don martin is questioning the judgement of mr. harper.

the bottom is that harper the master politician picked the wrong time to play politics. even individuals like myself hesitant but willing to give him a chance have seen the true harper; all politics, all the time. at a time of economic crisis not seen in my lifetime, harper used the opportunity to push through politically and ideologically charged proposals hoping parliament would swallow the poison.

no matter how fragmented or lacking real leadership, this "coalition" is necessary to put the country first and politics aside. yes, it's rather unholy union of "socialists", separatists and a party that can't keep itself together, yet, it is better than a government that chose to ingore what the rest of the world is doing and instead attempted to all about kill the opposition by choking their funds. regardless of what the coalition puts forth as their economic plan it is still better than a government that chooses to ignore the problem all together.

his own descent is not the result of a hijack by the opposition but harper's flawed view of a minority government should work, let alone in the times we find ourselves. instead of admitting fault, harper is framing this as a hijacking of democracy and installing a prime minister that was not chosen by the people. given the fact, more than 60% of canadians voted for this collective group of parties, their legitimacy is entirely grounded within the voters. if anything, harper's 38% or so public support lacks the legitimacy of the country when last week he failed to address the concerns of the majority of the country. of course, the percentage of support is entirely subject to its own debate on our electoral scheme. the point is; harper is choosing to ignore the fact the constitution permits these sort of arrangments between opposition parties when the government loses confidence of parliament. harper should know very well; in 2004, he was on the brink of arranging the same coalition with the bloc to bring down martin's liberal government.

i've always credited harper as a smart politician, doing and saying the right thing at the right time. nothing he ever does or says is without a projection of what is to transpire afterwards. the parties subsidy cuts was a clever ploy that shows you can't win them all. the plan itself was brilliant but the miscalculation of the expected outcome has harper on the defensive. rather than the opposition blinking, they now smell blood and are going full steam after harper, no matter how battered they are themselves.

what harper did for the conservative movement could not have been done by anyone else within that party. however, there is a limit to what one can do and at which further actions are detrimental to to the cause. simply, the feared underlying thoughts many canadians have about harper are now front and centre as he played his cards too early. now is the time for the party to choose a leader who's interest in the country and not destroying the opponents. speaking to friends and family who work in the limping manufacturing sector of ontario as to what the government plans on doing, harper is more concerned with using his position to conquer a majority government not by ideas and policies but by mean spirited strategies. it is as if harper really does have contempt for the democratic process.

if the coalition pushes through with bringing down the government next week, it is likely the end of the harper's political career. he can't be trusted with the public, parliament and likely rank and file conservatives are displeased with his me me me-orientated announcements last week.

and if so, much credit to harper for being the first politician to unite the left and the right.