In opposition

A bizarre movement seems to be starting among the Cons, with prominent bloggers floating trial balloons about either formally stripping the Libs of the title of Official Opposition, or simply refusing to deal with Lib questions and issues (though last I checked that was the Cons' typical response to all opposition questions already). And if there's anything more surprising than the effort to push in that direction, it's that Lib bloggers haven't yet offered any apparent criticism of the plan.

With that in mind, let's make this clear from a supporter of the party which would seemingly benefit most.

The Cons aren't entitled to pick and choose their opposition.

Con bloggers apparently don't see the slightest problem in disregarding the democratic allocation of seats in the House of Commons, or going to even greater lengths than the Con government already has to prevent Lib MPs from doing their jobs. And that may be a natural extension of a party which genuinely sees itself as entitled to make government benefits contingent on a partisan gain in exchange.

But the reality is that MPs - regardless of their partisan stripe - have the right to hold the government to account in the House of Commons. And based on the outcome of the last federal election, the Libs legitimately hold the title of Official Opposition, regardless of how effective (or ineffective) they are in that role.

Of course, the NDP will rightly keep pointing out the Libs' weakness as a reason to vote NDP as the effective opposition to Harper and his party. And hopefully that message will lead to a point where Canadian voters recognize and vote for the NDP as a strong future government in the making.

But the Cons have no more legitimate basis to try to cut a party out of the political process entirely than they do to appoint pseudo-MPs to usurp the function of opposition members. And the fact that high-profile supporters honestly see no problem with that kind of scheme only shows the Cons' fundamental contempt for democracy.