Make no mistake, Harper wants an election

He played footsie with the idea with the throne speech, but now the Conservatives want to make their super-duper omnibus crime bill both a confidence vote and an all-or-nothing affair. Apparently Steve doesn't want any amendments or anything, take it or leave it. One wonders what (if anything) Steve will try to slip in there to make it unpalatable so that he can go to the polls hollering about a soft-on-crime opposition.

I'm not sure why this is a big priority for the Conservatives given that crime is on the decline. One of their spokespeople/strategists or what-have-you remarked that this would show that the Conservatives understood urban voters. This is of course based on an idiotic stereotype of urban life and the threat of crime in big cities. Toronto is not early-1980s New York, it's actually a fairly safe place compared to many other parts of Canada.

In related news, at least some Tory-sympathizers are upset that Dion didn't bring down the government. According to this post, this somehow renders Stephane Dion undemocratic. It ought to be plain now which side wants an election.