Buckdog

Harper has one more election to win a majority or he is likely gone. As it becomes ever more apparent that not only is a majority impossible,but at best a weakened minority likely, he will be seen as a lame duck within his own caucus.
Autocrat's are feared not respected by their minions, so when they are perceived to be weakening and those under them start to shake off their fear, the end of the autocrat's reign comes swiftly and viciously.

Mad Loon is right. Leaders who have few people skills and tend to hold power over their own follows usually do so with a combination of the carrot and the stick. Harper's carrot has been a majority that it seems he is unable to deliver, the stick is the power inherent in the PM's office and the position of the leader. However, if the caucus members begin to perceive the carrot to be purely illusory then the stick quickly loses its sting. The whole thing is usually built with a house of cards. (Just look at the sudden ousting of Thatcher whose ministers suddenly rebelled when they perceived her to be a serious liability. Surely the Conservative caucus will soon realize that if they had had a more sympathetic leader they would easily have won a majority in 06.

Then, of course, history doesn't usually look particularly kindly on the secretive, self-absorbed, power-hungry leader because these kinds of people usually don't build up any kind of savings account of good-will among anyone. So not only do they lose their positions, they are driven into historical obscurity or even villainy. (Though like Nixon their follows sometimes attempt to resurrect their reputation for later generations.)

I suspect that Harper's career will end not with a bang but a whimper.

"Autocrat's are feared not respected by their minions, so when they are perceived to be weakening and those under them start to shake off their fear, the end of the autocrat's reign comes swiftly and viciously."
--contributed by Mad Loon

Mad Loon is right and one need only think back to Margaret Thatcher to see the swiftsure ousting of a "leader". Her party got rid of her while she was PM.
Maybe that fact could strengthen some conservative hearts and minds
to do the same thing here.

We deserve better.