Andrew Steele has written a strange article describing potential successors for Stephen Harper as Conservative leader should the government be defeated in January. I doubt that Harper is in any real danger even if he does lose a confidence vote - there are no formal mechanisms to remove him as leader in the short term and no other candidate has anything resembling Harper's rock-solid base of support within the party. 

Unfortunately, Steele has confined himself to the Ottawa set and (unbelievably) included Jean Charest. My question: What about Bernard Lord? The former New Brunswick premier would be a fine replacement for Harper, although it's not at all clear that he wants the job.