Wednesday, June 17, 2009 11:41 AM
The winner? Canada
Norman Spector
There will be plenty of time for the chattering class to weigh in on whether the Prime Minister bested the Leader of the Opposition, or whether Mr. Ignatieff came out ahead of Mr. Harper. God knows, there's been more than enough of that in the past few days. Maybe, just this once, we'll be spared this kind of schoolyard analysis. Because, in truth, there's only one winner from the events this week in Ottawa.
Canadians will be spared a summer election - an election that fewer of us wanted than still believe Elvis is alive. The economic recovery, such as it is, can continue to gather steam.
We'll get a much-needed independent review of the weaknesses of the EI system and possible improvements.
Most important, the leaders of our two main parties have shown they can work together in a minority situation. This bodes well for the future, since it appears that we are fated to live with minority governments for some time.
It also suggests that we are blessed in having two potential prime ministers who, at the end of the day, know how to behave as mature adults - once they've exhausted all other alternatives, that is.
