Holy Shit....

      Will this save the Prime Minister's bacon?   By my count, this brings the vote tally for Thursday's budget vote to this:

152:   Tories and Blockers
151:   Libbers and Dippers
1:   Carolyn Parrish, Independent, to vote with the Libber-Dippers
2:   Cadman and Kilgour, Independents whose votes are still undecided

Translation: it's now a dead heat, and given the intense volatilty of the electorate, this may be little more than a means of stepping back from the precipice of a non-confidence stand-off.   It's surely a body-blow to Mr. Harper-- and, ironically enough, to the NDP, who can no longer be seen as supporting the government while waiting patiently for its demise.   But I think it's quite possible we've now forestalled an election, and Mr. Martin may just have bought himself a few more months in government, and that plopping sound you just heard in the background was the sound of Andrew Coyne shitting himself.

      This truly is the House of the (Very , Very) Long Knives....

      UPDATE:   Mr. Harper's press conference, going on as I write this, sounds almost like a concession of defeat.   I wonder if he knows more about the Cadman and Kilgour votes than the rest of us do.   Or, perhaps, that he's suspecting a few of his own members-- from Atlantic Canada?-- are waffling in their support.   I have to say, Stevie came across very poorly in his conference, like a child that had his allowance taken away, just when he knew what he was going to spend it on.

      Key quote from the Harper: "There's no grand principles in this decision, just ambition."   Sorry, Mr. Harper, says I: that should be, "There are no grand principles in this decision."  

      UPPERDATE:   I guess this means Lucienne Robillard is out of cabinet? How wise a move is this, dumping a Quebecois member from cabinet with separatist sentiment as strong as it is right now? We shall see.