Martin Lives to Fight Another Day (but will Harper?)

So the Liberals hung on for the vote today, everyone saw that. In some sense though, this is where the interesting questions start. Such as:

Why are the Conservatives so determined to bring down the government these days? Most recent polls say a couple things: First, support for the manjor parties is nearly identical to what it was last year in the election. Second, Canadians don't want an election. These two things being the case, why is Harper pushing? He stands to gain almost nothing right now, and if people want someone to punish for a premature election, he would be the one to take it.

How long does Harper have as leader? Looking at the Conservative performance in the polls, I'm starting to wonder. If he doesn't win the next election, I have a feeling that he's gone. Given all the facts about the current political situation, I'd imagine that it should be relatively easy for Harper to succeed. The country has been governed by the same party for nearly twelve years. That alone should be a huge boost for Harper. Secondly, said government is embroiled in a rather unpleasant scandal. That should be the final nail in the coffin of the current Liberal government. All that should give Harper stellar poll numbers, but it doesn't. In fact they should be even better since people often "park" their votes with opposition parties between elections as a way to register disapproval for a governing party they might otherwise support. That Harper cannot convert all of this into votes is an indication of how he still unnerves Canadians, particularly those in urban areas and those in Ontario.