2013 - The Beginning Of The End For Harper?

Huffington Post has posted an article speculating on whether 2013 is the beginning of Harper's demise.

Long time readers of this space will know that my own personal reaction is very much "we can only hope ...".

To be sure, Harper has taken a few good solid body blows this year.  Between the Senate Scandal, departing MPs like Rathgeber, a restive base of backbenchers, and ministers like MacKay and Moore developing a sudden taste for their own shoe leather the last half of 2013 has finally got Canadians wondering just what the Harper Government is up to.

However, there is one part of the article that I think the writers at Huffington Post may have forgotten a few details:

Worse, with the Senate scandal in the hands of RCMP investigators, Harper has no control over how events will unfold going forward.

Actually, I find myself wondering about that.  In the 2006 election, the RCMP conveniently rolled out a series of much more weakly founded "allegations" about various participants in the "Sponsorship Scandal" - only a few days before voting day.  The timing of that release was suspicious to many, and the recent resurrection of that zombie case the high side of a decade later also has the whiff of politics in it.  

I suspect that Harper has more control over what gets released by the RCMP (voluntarily, at least), unless a judge gets involved.

That said, I do not expect Harper will be able to escape 2013 unscathed.  The real question is how much of a "scorched earth" is he going to leave for his successor.