“When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid assent is frankly when it’s rapidly losing its moral authority to govern.”

Off the bat, I’ll say Stephen Harper should have faced the house and Michaelle Jean should have flat out refused his request to prorogue. This sets a very dangerous precedent and I can only imagine the reaction had Paul Martin done this in December 2005.

That said, although this was the wrong course of action, it does open the door for a peaceful solution to this entire brouhaha. Early indication has the Tories winning the PR war – at least based on the polling data that’s out there. And with more money behind them, I can’t see that changing over the next few weeks. So the opposition will probably be looking for an out to all this. At the same time, the threat of a rebel coalition still hangs over this government so I would expect some concessions in the January budget.

So what would I like to see happen?

As I’ve said all along, I have a lot of concerns about the long term implications of this coalition. So I do think passing a Conservative budget that adopts many of the principles the coalition has been advocating, while not an ideal situation, wouldn’t be a horrible result. I really hope that the Liberals and NDP vote against it, and that it passes with the support of the evil separatists. If nothing else, that would be an embarrassment to Harper and, more importantly, I would find it really funny.

Even if we get past January thanks to a separatist-approved budget, the mood in Ottawa is so bad that I have a hard time seeing this parliament lasting even remotely as long as the last one did. My guess is that we’re in for another election, by June at the latest.

That’s my prediction – feel free to share yours.