Get power at all costs: hold power at all costs.

Paul Martin gave it the ol' college try last night.
The PMO "requested" airtime last night and didn't tell the networks why. That put them in a pretty pickle. The nation's airwaves are the Prime Minister's by demand, but historically, PMs have only used them in times of national crisis. Chretien and Mulroney used them to try to stave off Quebec separation. Trudeau used them during the FLQ mess. (Do we sense a pattern, here?)
The networks weren't sure what Martin had up his sleeve. The last thing they wanted was to be seen to be providing partisan advertising, but there was the off chance the PM was going to resign and call an election on national television. Or maybe he'd declare war on Desolation Island. Who knew?
What Martin did was spend seven minutes telling Canadians (a) the Opposition just won't play fair; (b) he cancelled the sponsorship program, called the Gomery inquiry and testified before it, answering every question; and (c) he pledges to call an election within 30 days of Gomery's findings being made public.
Oddly, none of Martin's speech was in French. I think the Liberals now regard Quebec (rightly!) as a lost cause.
One of the things that rankled me was Martin bringing up the fact he'd practically lived in the Parliament buildings as a boy, while his daddy served in four Liberal governments. Didn't that sound like a king justifying the divine right of succession? That's the Liberals for you: we alone are fit to govern Canada.
Aside from that, tt was actually a pretty good speech. And it had the effect of taking the election card out of the Opposition's hand. Since Martin has said he'll call an election himself, likely before the end of the year, Harper taking the government down might be seen as rash.
The Opposition leaders were on after that, getting their two cents in. Harper started jabbering in French, prompting (at least on the network I was watching) a frantic search for anyone or anything that could translate; they eventually found somebody, but his translation skills were terrible. Harper also used a good deal of his time campaigning, which I personally found distasteful. Then again, it can be argued that Martin was campaigning just by arranging this television shindig: the crisis this time isn't national but Liberal. There's a huge difference, even if the Liberal Party of Canada can't see it. No matter: it's pretty obvious Harper means to jump the gun and get an election going soon.
He'll have help at it, too. Duceppe got his points in, but not being French, I can't say what they were...he does look ready for the hustings, though. Jack Layton, he of the perennnial shit-eating grin, issued an ultimatum to Martin, right there on national TV: amend the budget so as to drive more companies out of Canada or we'll bring you down. (Sorry...he said "cancel the surprise corporate tax cuts": I've taken the liberty of translating that from Socialist into English for you.)
Obviously the lions are circling. The fallout will be interesting. Stay tuned!