In the last 48 hours, Canada has plunged into the most exciting political drama of my lifetime.

Our new government, elected just 55 days ago with a minority of seats in Parliament, is facing an unexpectedly united Opposition. All three major opposition parties - described by one reporter as "the liberals, the socialists and the separatists" - are claiming to be ready to bring down the government and, instead of going back to the polls, request that the Governor General permit them to form a coalition instead.

This is unprecedented in Canadian political history, on a number of levels.

First, Mr. Harper and Co., having only been elected on October 14th, would smash the existing record for shortest ever tenure in government.

Second, if the Governor General heeded the Opposition's request and allowed them to form a coalition government, instead of following the government's preferred option of another election, it would be the most active involvement of our un-elected head of state in Parliamentary affairs since the King-Byng Affair. Anti-monarchists and grassroots reform types tolerate the Governor General, the Queen's representative in Canada, only because the position involves no actual decision-making. But this time, Governor General Michaelle Jean would be faced with a choice that only she could make; the constitutional fallout from her choice could be huge.

Third, the potential involvement of the Bloc Quebecois - a party dedicated entirely to the break-up of Canada and the creation of an independent Quebec - in the day-to-day governance of the country is a possibility that horrifies many Canadians.

Given all this, what's gotten Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition (to use the traditional name) so riled up?

On Thursday, Harper's Conservative government delivered an "economic update" outlining their planned response to the global financial crisis. They'd been in talks with the opposition parties for the past few weeks, and work from Parliament Hill was that they intended to play nice and work with their opponents to craft a response. The word of the day was "conciliatory".

Then the economic update came down. Precious little of the opposition's input had been included. There was no economic stimulus package as had been expected. (The government claimed that because they had cut taxes last year, Canada's economy had already been stimulated.) Instead, a series of "budget cuts" were lined up - cuts to things like the pay equity commission that ensures female employees are treated fairly, and - most crucially - to the public funding political parties receive to run their election campaigns. Given the relative financial situations of the four major parties - the Conservatives are by far the wealthiest - the move seemed clearly designed to cripple the Opposition's ability to compete in future elections, and perhaps even to bankrupt them entirely.

Also included in the update was a rescinding of the right to strike for all federal public servants, for three years.

I'm not sure what the government expected the Opposition would do, faced with such a confrontational proposal. (Even putting the election funding aside, the Bloc and the NDP take workers' rights incredibly seriously, and women's rights are a hot-button issue these days, too.) But what they didn't expect was to see a suddenly-united Opposition prepared to seize power within a matter of days.

Like I said: exciting times.