Stephen Harper - Minority Prime Minister ?

In today's Globe and Mail, I find Stephen Harper saying that a Conservative minority government won't enter into a coalition with anyone. Instead, they'll form alliances issue by issue.

Other than a recognition that the CPC has no natural allies in the house, this statement of Harper's once again reflects an utterly clueless party. The closest to a prospective ally would be the Bloc Quebecois, but that would only be on matters of devolving powers to the provinces.

I have a great deal of difficulty with Harper's stance on the matter of allowing Quebec more autonomy in foreign affairs - doing this simply dilutes the Canadian voice on the world stage, and worse, would give further justification to Alberta's so-called trade offices where King Ralph is essentially engaging in foreign affairs conduct - a topic which should be carefully orchestrated with the Federal Government.

Harper's recent comments about "reopening" the Constitution - ostensibly - in the context of getting Quebec to sign it also suggest his strategy with regards to the Conservative position on Marriage. Harper has insisted that he wouldn't need to invoke the notwithstanding clause to "protect" marriage.

Basically, the only other way he could do this would be to reword sections of the Constitution and the Charter of Rights with specific wording on the topic of marriage. Of course, this is far from simple to accomplish, since the Constitution's Amending Formula requires not just the Federal Government, but a 2/3 majority of the provincial legislatures, representing a minimum of 50% of the population to pass ratifying motions as well. If the horrendously flawed Meech Lake and Charlottetown Accords are any indication of the kind of agreement that Harper would pursue, I suspect that getting provincial assent could be extremely difficult.