It was a game of political chicken, and in the end, both sides blinked.
The prospect that Canadians could be heading back to the polls in another federal election had been keeping Ottawa on tenterhooks all day Thursday.
But just 15 minutes before a non-confidence vote on the Throne Speech was supposed to be held in the House of Commons, the Bloc Quebecois and the Liberals came to a compromise.
The dispute centred over a subamendment that would have given the provinces control over money for health care, education and other vital issues. And the Conservatives threatened to support it.
The Liberals insisted they couldn’t let it pass, and if the stalemate had continued, it would have come down to a lone independent MP’s vote to decide the country’s electoral fate.
But Prime Minister Paul Martin spent the half hour before the vote with both Conservative leader Stephen Harper and Bloc chief Gilles Duceppe, and each agreed on a change to the wording that was palatable to all three sides.
“I spoke to Jack Layton. I spoke to Stephen Harper. I spoke to Gilles Duceppe … and we agreed that that part of the amendment that essentially would have delegated authority outside of Parliament would be struck from the amendment,” reveals the P.M.
But while the Liberals emerged from this first crisis unscathed, the real winners are the Canadian public, who have dodged an election bullet for now.
Still, you can bet the opposition will have a lot of ammunition left in their guns as they take continuous aim at the minority Grits. And there's cause to worry - politicians have only been back to work for four days.
