Stephen Harper survives as Canadian Prime Minister after introducing large stimulus plan

Six weeks ago Canada's Prime Minister was fighting for his political life as his minority government faced being no-confidenced by an unexpected coming together of the nation's left-wing parties.  He won some time after the Governor-General prorogued Parliament and, as expected, the pressure of public opinion unpicked the coalition.

The coalition finally broke apart yesterday as the new Canadian Liberal leader, Michael Ignatieff, agreed (with conditions) to support Stephen Harper's Can$40bn fiscal stimulus plan.  Explaining his decision to abandon the coalition he said: “Canadians don't want another election, and they're tired of political games. They have waited too long for action on the economy for us to fail them now because of partisan interest.”  Ignatieff then received strong attacks from "livid" partners of the now finished coalition, ushering in the possibility of deeper Balkanisation of Canada's Left.

Not all on the Right are happy though.  Andrew Coyne proclaimed the death of conservatism in Canada:

"Say what you like about the Tories: they don’t do things by halves. When they spend, they spend. When they go into debt, they do it $100-billion at a time. And when they decide to put an end to conservatism in Canada — as a philosophy, as a movement—they go out with a bang."