CTV

I was on CTV again today for their partisans panel. Here's the clip.

Pundits don't like to admit that they're ever surprised, but I'll admit it: I'm surprised at how easily Stephane Dion's election bluff is called, time after time, by Stephen Harper. I don't know what Dion's breaking point is -- or if he even has one. Caving in on Afghanistan; the crime bill/Senate ultimatum; and now, it seems, the budget. Is there anything Dion wouldn't do to stave off an election?

I agree with what Jack Layton said a few weeks ago: it is as if the Liberal party is in a minority coalition with the Conservatives. Except that the Liberals don't get anything out of the deal, other than a few more months with Dion as the boss.

It's clear that Harper wants an election now anyways -- why not, especially if the U.S. economy is indeed going to slow down, and with Dion still fighting a rear guard battle against Michael Ignatieff and Bob Rae, and the Paul Martin/Jean Chretien fault line still tender.

Why not put increasingly ambitious bills to the House, each as a confidence motion, and dare Dion to trigger an election?

Gun control, the Wheat Board, tax cuts -- and how about a gentle amendment to section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act?

The irony is that last bill wouldn't be controversial at all. Other than a lone Liberal lobbyist who hasn't been in the party's good graces for four years, and a fringe ethno-political special interest group, I don't think anyone in the country would even consider such an amendment controversial.