The Tories begin to Crumble. . . . .

Now that the Conservatives has lost their bid to kill the gun-registry, I see quite a few bloggers claiming that Mr. Harper is probably happy about the loss because he can continue to use the issue in the next election. I believe that this really is assaulting a deceased equine because as far as I can make out he has a lot more votes to lose on the issue than he has to win. A majority of Canadians support the registry, particularly in Quebec where the Conservatives stand to lose all of their seats. And I predict that by the time of the next election even more people will be in favor of the registry because once the House had ruled on an issue in such a public fashion people tend to just want to put the issue behind them. And even more significantly if Harper continues to harp (no pun intended) on the issue it will further alienate people and cause them to see him as a spiteful wacko. A number of recent events (not least of which is the Finance Minister's troubling rant that boarded on psychotic in nature) has begun to turn people away from the Harper Conservatives and realize that regardless of one's politics these guys are giving democracy (and even Conservatism) a bad name with their poisonous nasty approach to almost everything. I predict that their will be a powerful backlash against such a political attitude and people will begin to look for a more civil politics and a more conscientious group of leaders. It will take time but I believe it is happening and the Conservatives are in a state of absolute panic about it, as Flaherty's rant demonstrates.