Conciliator or Autocrat

At 5:45 p.m. Thursday, after hours of often droning debate that inspired one Conservative MP to craft a paper airplane at her seat, Canada’s parliamentarians voted to extend the Afghanistan mission to 2011.

The result was a foregone conclusion, since the opposition Liberals had signalled their support weeks ago. But not even the shouts of: “End it, don’t extend it” from protesters in the House of Commons gallery could drown out the fact that the historic vote was a major victory for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his minority Conservative government.

In many ways, the prime minister’s handling of the Afghanistan extension could serve as a case study on his skill as a strategist. Last October, Mr. Harper appointed former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley to head a panel to review Canada’s role in the war.