By the time Parliament recesses for the Christmas break, the federal Liberals will have chosen their new leader at their Dec. 2-3 convention in Montreal. They're bound to come back a reinvigorated force determined to kick holes in the Conservative platform.

Until now, the Liberals, under the interim leadership of former foreign affairs and ex-defence minister Bill Graham, and with their coffers virtually empty, have had to avoid toppling Harper's minority government, as have Gilles Duceppe's Bloc Quebecois and Jack Layton's New Democrats.

But that is soon to change, so Harper and his team must show their mettle during this session and be prepared to face defeat in the Commons — and victory with the voters — in an election as early as spring.

First, in the wake of the tragic killing and shootings at Dawson College in Montreal Wednesday the opposition will condemn the Conservatives for vowing to scrap the more than $1-billion long-arm registry brought in by the Liberals following the L'Ecole Polytechnique school rampage, which occurred in that city in 1989 when 14 young women were murdered.

That killer Kimveer Gill was able to obtain restricted weapons despite the registry reinforces claims it is ineffective in preventing firearms from getting into the wrong hands.

Justice Minister Vic Toews' tough legislation to make it much harder for those charged with gun crimes to get bail, and those already convicted of gun crimes to get parole, deserves support of MPs of all parties.

Though it's harder for the Liberals to pressure for a pullout of our troops — since the original mandate and redeploying into Kandahar were both made by the Liberals — the Bloc and the NDP will undoubtedly take aim at our purposes there, particularly as casualties rise.

Yet by various assessments, a free vote will now change nothing in this debate, so why should the Tories open up this contentious argument again?

But it won't all be negative. Harper's maiden appearance before the UN, just as the session gets underway, will surely boost his profile in a positive way on the world stage.

With all these tangled issues — and other controversies that may land out of the blue on the PM's desk, this really is likely to be a make or break session for the Conservatives.

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