I know you know all this already

but it's still rather satisfying to see it neatly laid out in a national newspaper :

Parliament's record undermines Harper's rationale for election
"Parliament has been working very well for Mr. Harper. He has had one of the longest minority tenures that we have seen. He has been able to get all of his policies through ... I don't know what he is complaining about," New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton told reporters yesterday.
"It boils down to he is quitting his job," Layton said.

If the New Democrats had had their way they would have brought down the Harper government a year ago, but it was the cash-strapped Liberals, not wanting to force an election, who kept the Tories in power well past the average lifespan for a minority.

Harper has complained the committee system is in turmoil with partisan bickering overshadowing the business of Parliament, but what he doesn't mention is that his MPs are largely responsible for the mischief-making.
In fact, it was the Conservatives who last year produced a 200-page manual for MPs on how to disrupt and derail parliamentary committees and slow things down in the Commons and the Senate.

By pulling the plug on their government, the Tories avoid a Commons committee investigation into a controversial financing scheme they used in the last election campaign. The so-called in-and-out scheme has been declared illegal by Elections Canada.

Also, it will delay at least for now opposition demands that a committee investigate the Chuck Cadman affair following allegations the Conservatives tried to bribe the late independent MP in order to get his vote to bring down the Martin government.

"Having Harper claiming the House is dysfunctional ... is like the proverbial man who has murdered his parents pleading with the judge for mercy because he is an orphan," Green leader Elizabeth May said."