I think Harper may be smart enough, and more importantly, pragmatic enough to make a minority work. For a while, anyway. He'll have a period of grace while the Liberals lick their wounds, and the public would be irate if they forced another election too soon anyway.

But Harper's political career was born of the Reform Party, which in Liberal eyes makes him slightly more evil than Lucifer. I doubt they'd even consider letting him govern for an entire term.

In talking with my friends and family, it seems Martin tried to govern in the same manner as did Chretien--namely, to keep political opponenents off-balance with a platform of complete inaction. But he couldn't pull it off because of his place in history. Chretien was being contrasted with Mulroney, a PM whose ambitions far outran his abilities and pushed the country right to the brink of political collapse. Chretien's reluctance to actually *do* anything made him seem a steady hand in comparison. But by the time Martin took office, people were looking for change again. Since he didn't deliver it, the public voted for it.

In answer to Tom's question Where do Canadians threaten to move when conservatives win elections: a different part of Canada. The impact of a conservative federal government can be somewhat mitigated by the presence of a Liberal or socialist provincial government.