Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper was sworn in today as Canada’s 22nd Prime Minister together with his new cabinet.

Of course, there was a controversial move that raised some eyebrows. Liberal MP David Emerson crossed the floor to join the new Conservative government as a minister with the portfolio of international trade. While some considered it to be a surprise - and rightfully point to the ethics of it all - anyone familiar with Emerson should not be surprised. He is a former business executive with sound instincts when it comes to fiscal policies and trade. Last year I attended a luncheon where he was keynote speaker and for a short while it felt like I had walked into a sort of Milton Friedman tribute rather than a Liberal pro-business pitch. What his move means in more general terms though is that it seems that the more pragmatic and right-of-center elements in the Liberal Party are shifting their allegiances.

With that Harper can begin to carefully shift Canada’s center to the right and in doing that he may do what the left did to his party for twelve long years: fracture it, keep it divided, and stay at the help for much longer than anyone is now willing to predict.