Yesterday, I talked about the political crisis in Canada and how our PM, Steven Harper, abused his powers and used it to silence the votes of his fellow elected parliamentarians. I then pondered, after my blog was published, why people would even vote for this guy, and the truth hit home: he is the best of the bunch.

If the government falls after parliament resumes, one of two things will happen. Either the Governor General hands power to the coalition government -- assuming they won't have fallen apart at the seams by that time -- or a general election will be called. The first option is starting to look a little unlikely, so chances are we will have yet another election, even though we just had one in October. But that option is also looking bleak for those of us who don't share such flattering views of Harper.

Today is a sad day for democracy in Canada. For the first time in our nation's history, the Prime Minister Steven Harper suspended parliament in order to avoid a vote of confidence in the house. As a Canadian, I am saddened to see one man's desperation to cling to power weaken our democracy to this degree.

It all started last week when the minority government tried to introduce a fiscal update that was intended to help steer Canada through these tough economic times. In it, the Conservative party tried to include a political bomb of a policy that would cut off public funding to political parties in Canada. The opposition parties, who rely more on this public funding than the Conservatives do, were incensed by this blatant attempt at using the economic crisis as a cover for introducing legislation that would essentially wipe out opposition parties of the government.