Delicious with red wine, but HEARTBURN IS POSSIBLE! [1]
I don’t have the heart for anything but humour and bad puns today. However, the "grownups" are all in deadly earnest. Bob Rae called Harper’s address Nixonian. CBC’s talking heads dismissed Dion’s as YouTube’ish (it is now 
) American Doomers please watch this carefully. Harper just won the latest round but the game is not over. Look here to start exploring this in more detail. Economically and in many other ways this stuff is going to be high-impact on America too.
UPDATE:
Now the real grownups [2] are starting to weigh in
Whatever happens, this week’s events may change Canadian politics for ever. Only the Liberals or Conservatives have governed in Ottawa since 1926, but Canada now has four significant parties (a fifth, the Greens, won nearly 7% of the vote but no seats). Coalition politics may be inevitable. Even so, Canadians have little idea who might be governing them after Christmas.
[1]: "GG agrees to suspend Parliament: Harper — Meeting gives Tories reprieve from possible no-confidence vote Monday", CBC, December 4, 2008.
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean has granted a request from Stephen Harper to suspend Parliament until late next month, the prime minister announced on Thursday, a move that avoids a confidence vote set for Monday that could have toppled his minority government.
"Following my advice, the Governor General has agreed to prorogue [I'll take my humor where I can today] Parliament," Harper said outside Rideau Hall after a two-hour meeting with Jean.
[2]: "A most un-Canadian caper: Canada’s prime minister clings on to office, for the moment", Economist, December 4, 2008.
Well it seems that the Canadian voters certainly want Prime Minister Harper to continue to lead the country rather than be replaced with the “Coalition of the Swilling”. The latest Ipsos poll shows 68% in favour of the prorogation.
The Liberals are starting to have serious second thoughts about forming a coalition with the separatists and the knives are definitely out for Dion. I think he should stay on as Liberal leader and take them into the next election.
The Governor General has done the right thing.
I disagree. The majority of Canadians did not vote for the Conservatives (hence a minority government) and what Harper is doing has no precedent - proroguing Parliament to escape a defeat is cowardly and undemocratic. He’s essentially prolonging his rule by decree.
Regardless of how Canadians “feel” about it, Harper is abusing Parliament and the Governor General should have stood up to him. He’s declared himself unfit to lead.
The majority of Canadians, sadly do not understand how Parliament works and are buying into the Conservatives ad campaign that this is some kind of underhanded power grab or backroom deal, when in fact it’s the democratic and correct thing to do. If precedent is set to allow a government to simply shrug off a lost confidence vote, then the system has broken down entirely.
The confidence system should have been upheld by the GG.