What part of "lost confidence" does Harper not understand?

Harper is not a president.

He leads at the pleasure of Parliament.

There's a reason why it's called a "vote of non-confidence".

When he loses a confidence vote the government falls.

Can anyone doubt that he has lost the confidence of the Canadian Parliament?

The only reason he isn't out on his ear is that he unilaterally prevented the majority of Parliament from voting -- like preventing your wife from getting a divorce by locking her in the basement.

So what good can a prorogueation do for Mr Harper?

I guess there are only three things Harper can do to keep the balance of power with the Conservatives.

1. Cut a sweet deal with one of the other parties over Christmas.
2. Resign his leadership in favour of a new Conservative leader who doesn't infuriate everybody.
3. Spend the holidays trying to entrench a lot of inaccurate ideas about our system of government into the minds of as many Canadians as will listen to him, and inflame them against their own elected representatives.

Oh, and

4. Start a war. (This won't change parliamentary law, but it will be an effective distraction.)

Stay tuned, we're taking bets right up till post-time.

Noni