Canada – if Harper’s out, how long is coalition in?

I’m assuming that, per Canadian news reports, the Liberal-NDP coalition will hold.

But also, per the deal, I’m assuming it won’t hold that long. Bloc Quebecois has guaranteed its benevolent neutrality only until June. After that? Either the Liberal-NDP coalition pays off the Bloc in some way, shape or form, or else it’s done enough positive to fight the recession that it can risk an election.

That’s assuming Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe doesn’t push his hand. And, I don’t think he will. At least not, as long as Stephen Harper is Conservative leader. I’m sure Harper’s anti-union push didn’t go over well in Quebec.

That said, assuming Harper can’t continue to push off a no-confidence vote, and the deal goes down, what happens to him?

I mean, even though he couldn’t win a majority, he increased the Conservatives’ plurality in October. They can’t just push him to the curb within his own party, can they?

OTOH, he ran this election against Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion, regarded as one of the poorest leaders of the party in decades.

That said, I’ve got a freelance journalist friend in Montreal. I’ll ask him some stuff.

Meanwhile, I wondered last week, how would a change in government affect the possibility of a Big Three bailout here? Remember, part of the reason everybody wants to boot Harper is that he hasn’t offered any sort of economic stimulus plan. (Harper is a U.S. conservative’s red meat wet dream – he actually wants to cut spending, big-time, and he has a brain.)

Finally, in case you’re not aware of this, the Canadian governmental structure is more “federal” than ours is. Provincial governments have a lot of power, and in Alberta and B.C., especially, they’re not afraid to use it. So, in a sense, this isn’t quite as huge as it would be down here.

On the other hand, it shows Americans close-up what we’re missing by not having parliamentary government.