Canadian PM damaged badly by crisis he provoked

By David Ljunggren - Analysis

OTTAWA (Reuters) - An botched attempt by Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper to cripple opposition parties has backfired so badly that even if he survives what is now the worst crisis of his career, he has been wounded badly.

In a surprise move, Harper attempted last week to cut public financing for political parties. The plan so enraged the three disparate opposition parties -- who rely heavily on public money -- that they are uniting in a bid to bring down the Conservative government in Parliament and replace it with a coalition government.

Even if Harper is able to hold on to power, and this is still very much in doubt, he will be on the defensive -- a position he is not used to. He will find it much harder to push his agenda through Parliament and this most likely spells the end of such controversial government plans as sentencing some juvenile criminals as adults.

The wall of criticism that greeted the party financing move by Harper, a supposed master tactician with a broad partisan streak, cantered on the notion that at a time when he should have been focussing on the economic crisis, he was too busy playing political games.

Harper's fall from grace came with startling speed. After he won a strengthened minority in the Oct 14 election, he reached out to suspicious opposition legislators and called on them to work with him for the good of the nation.

Just as his rivals were getting used to the idea of friendlier prime minister, he struck out at them, prompting a furious reaction.

Now the opposition parties -- who control a majority of seats in Parliament and whose support he needs to govern -- say they want to have nothing to do with Harper.

"Right now, we do not believe him, and I think he has earned the right for us not to believe him," said senior Liberal legislator John McCallum.