Shoe, meet the other foot

With Ignatieff, the Liberal party has clearly changed shoes. They're now kicking Harper where it hurts -- right in the 'not a leader' meme:

“The thing that frankly concerns me is that the autumn statement so failed the test of leadership that Canadians required of the situation, that I'm not optimistic that the government will come up with a budget that meets Canada's needs,” Mr. Ignatieff said.
“But I live in hope, as it were, that Mr. Harper will rise to the demands of the hour.”

Ouch!
Far and Wide sums up the difference between Dion and Ignatieff -- attitude.
Iggy's got one.
And Harper is scared.
I think it comes down to the excellent political judgment which Iggy is showing. He has drawn a line in the sand, and Harper will cross it at his peril. With Dion, Harper could get away with turning everything into a confidence vote because Dion was scared of an election. Iggy is making it clear that he is not scared at all.
But Harper is -- he has already shown that losing the prime ministership is his very worst nightmare, the thing that he will do anything to avoid.
So if he survives another near-death experience with the budget vote at the end of January, then watch how magically, presto change-o, absolutely NOTHING ELSE will be a "confidence" vote. The Conservative agenda will be toast. And the parliamentary committees should be very entertaining this spring!