Just in case you have not been paying attention to Canada over the last couple of days

There seems to be a real chance that Harper’s government could fall over the move by the Conservatives to eliminate public subsidies for political parties, a move which could bankrupt every party but his own. This could mean either another Canadian election or the possibility that the other parties could join together to form a coalition government, something that has happened only one other time in Canadian history. Former party leaders Jean Chretien and Ed Broadbent are apparently involved in this attempt to bring the parties together.

This is, as one article put it, a political game of chicken. I have to imagine that Harper will be the first to give up his desire to make this a confidence vote. Otherwise, he may wind up the leader of the sole opposition party in a most anomalous sitting of the House of Commons.