Prime Minister Harper has declared he will take the deeply flawed softwood lumber deal to Parliament this fall and consider the vote one of confidence -- that is, if the vote is lost, we'll be at the polls this fall.
We say fine, and are pleased that the federal NDP -- virtually invisible since Harper's minority victory -- immediately said, via industry critic Peter Julian, they would damn the torpedoes by voting against it and take the risk of forcing an election call.
Good for them. Well done.
Harper's tactical crutch of threatening to dissolve Parliament if the majority opposition defeats virtually anything is getting very tired. He is likely relying on continuing polls that say he is comftorably ahead in voter suppoer.
We think, however, if he has to explain for several weeks to Canadians he pulled the plug over a bad lumber deal, or something equally lame, he might be very surprised at the result.
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As a footnote, we see Hugh McFadyen (we are told we shouldn't say "Huey", it's apparently rude) has made hay that he finally got an audience with the PM, six months after becoming leader of the 'Toba PCs. After the Israel/Lebanon debacle and the tired "iron hand" act noted above, he may have been wiser to hold off hitching his wagon to Harper.