At the outset let me say clearly that I am a Conservative voter. Now that that is out of the way; Coyne, this is merely a symptom of the much larger Constitutional dilemma that plagues us and has been a cancer in our system for several political generations; the concentration of practical power in the PMO.
Harper is not the first to use prorogue Parliament for baser political gain and the cynically pious chest thumping of the opposition is, as you say, little more than envy. But the growth of the PMO, the gathering up of all the strands, levers and instruments of the practical application of federal power in this country is the true test (or more properly, threat)of Parliamentary democracy in this country. Every election that passes, regardless of outcome entrenches this strange abberation deeper in our version of Parliamentary Democracy.