The coalition is ready to get down to work but it isn't in office yet.
There are a few hurdles to overcome.
Still, the fact that the opposition parties have been able to cement an agreement that would provide stable, progressive government for the country at a time of economic turmoil is a testament to the good will and the vision of the men and women elected just this past fall to the House of Commons.
They stand, as such, in stark contrast, to the federal Conservatives who have worked diligently over the past five years or so to foster every form of division within Canadian politics.
The signs of stress are showing in the Connie camp.
Their sock puppets and other assorted plants turned up on talk radio on Monday spouting the standard talking points. Too bad they were all out of date and too bad that the efforts to open cracks or sow seeds of doubt aren't taking.
But what with all the back-pedaling and the fulminating against an approach Stephen Harper himself tried but couldn't deliver, you know the Conservatives didn't figure on this response to their miserable economic "update".
A mystery web site pushing John Baird as an alternative is likely to open up any cracks inside the Conservatives. There's another one promoting Jim Prentice for the job once Harper is gone. Now it doesn't matter if this is a Conservative inside job or a pair of sites by Liberal or New Democrat operatives.
Either way it spells problems for the rank and file and hence for the Conservatives. They've held on this long by tight internal discipline. These sites and the whole pressure of the gaffe from last week might be enough to distract the Conservatives.
Another sign of the problems within the federal Conservatives - or maybe a new problem would be the better term - can be found in the skullduggery of taping an opposition caucus meeting. It's just another distasteful episode from a party that has, in cases like Grewahl, shown itself able to stoop pretty low in the quest for power. The NDP have called the Mounties but even if nothing comes of it, the whole episode just reminds Canadians of what kind of ethics the current federal government believes in.
No one supporting the coalition should count any chickens before they are hatched. Now that they are in power the Conservatives will do just about anything to keep their fingers on the levers. They've shown the depths they will sink to already.
But in the meantime, just watch the signs as they unravel. They might just be in the early stages of spin from which they cannot recover.
-srbp-
