CPC supporters might hate the budget, but where are they to go?

I think the blogosphere understands the situation as they should: the budget will pass. Ignatieff's conditions will be accepted since I doubt Harper wants to go into an election right now. The Liberals will support it and the NDP/Bloc will use this as ammunition to target Liberal and Conservative incumbents and candidates in the next election. It looks like the political equilibrium has worked itself out in the end.

I, for one, am pro-coalition. If the government were to fall for legitimate reasons (beyond the issue of trust) within the next 6 months, we ought to have a coalition government and not another election. Beyond the 6 month span, I think we'd be fair game to go to the polls.

While Jack Layton certainly has some merit in declaring his mistrust of the Prime Minister and the CPC government due to a seemingly infinite number of about-faces on issues critical to the public. As Scott Brison said, this is a Dr. Jekyll budget where upon implementation we can only expect to encounter Mr. Hyde.

And that may be so, but, what gave the coalition legitimacy was their willingness to work with one another in cooperation. If Harper says he'll work within the limits of the Liberal's demands then he will have the confidence of the majority of the seats in the house. It is a clever strategy to push the PM to bite off more than he can chew and then punish him at the polls for it.

But I ask the question: where are CPC supporters going to go if we are faced with an election? They have no one to blame but their leader and cabinet and it will be interesting to see voter turnout levels in the areas where CPC support is at its highest. Will voters stay home in protest? Or will they swing and vote for the party that is giving the CPC the gears?

However, this post is being published before Michael Ignatieff makes his press release and should he not support the budget, I am confident that an Ignateiff/Harper election showdown would give the Liberals a minority government if the GG does not allow the LPC-NDP Coalition to govern.

***UPDATE***

Ignatieff has put the government on probation. An idea I'm sure Harper hates. Ignatieff and the LPC will support the budget with accountability amendments to it, the cornerstone of which is the promise that the government has 3 fiscal updates this year, at each point in time a confidence motion is held and the Opposition has the chance to renew their confidence or show their non-confidence and bring the government down.

During Ignatieff's announcement the media is hammering him on the issue that the LPC did not propose amendments to policies in the budget that they WANT to see or that they DISAGREE with. Ignatieff, like I suggested above, does not want to take the budget on himself. He wants to watch Harper sink under his own weight and then use that as ammunition during an election. By amending it to the point where it becomes a Liberal crafted budget and not a CPC written document takes the heat off of Harper.

Ignatieff is hammering the government on Harper's poor leadership, lack of accountability, and deception of Canadians on the economy. He won't let the idea of the Coalition government go, which is good, but he won't commit to bringing down the government without first holding Harper accountable to his promises in the budget.

The ball is now in Harper's court. If he rejects the Liberal accountability amendments the election will be on him.