If anyone could stomach the spectacle, the antics going on in Ottawa offer a textbook example of why millions of people are turned off by politics.

How can you take anything politicians say seriously when they so blatantly act out of self-interest rather than the good of the country? And if you don’t believe partisanship is the driving force of the crisis gripping the capital, take another look.

Last week Prime Minister Stephen Harper was successful in having Governor General Michaelle Jean to agree to his request to suspend Parliament until late January, getting the Conservative government temporarily out of the firing line.

The break gives the government time to come up with a budget that responds to the global economic crisis.

Wrapping themselves in the flag, the Conservatives are positioning themselves as defenders of democracy and as patriots with their ‘mission’ to stop a coalition of Liberals and NDP from ‘seizing’ power.  

The coalition, propped up by the “separatist” Bloc Quebecois, would be an affront to democracy and a threat to national unity, says the government. Yet, a document released by the Bloc shows that in 2000, the Canadian Alliance, forerunner to today’s Conservative Party, contemplated a coalition with the Bloc to defeat and replace the ruling Liberals.

An obvious conclusion is that the government is going to extraordinary steps, including shutting down Parliament and painting its ‘enemies’ as ‘traitors,’ to save its own skin.

Similarly, it’s equally as obvious that self-interest fuels the coalition’s drive to replace the government. In its economic statement the government stupidly including a measure ending a public subsidy for political parties.

It was rightly viewed as a swat at the opposition’s ability to raise funds to run election campaigns; the Conservatives do a much better job raising money from grassroots sources.

Although Parliament has shut down, with the government promising a budget to address the economic crisis, the coalition lives on. And even though the PM has withdrawn the offending measure, the well has been poisoned and the opposition parties seem intent on not giving Harper another chance to deny them funding.

It’s all about you, the politicians say, but analysis points to another conclusion.