When Prime Minister Stephen Harper surprised and apparently delighted a high-end audience by playing the piano and singing at Ottawa's National Arts Centre gala on the weekend alongside renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, his choice of the Beatles' classic "With A Little Help From My Friends" surely couldn't have been an accident.

To be sure, Harper's wife Lauren, who was honorary chair of the event, told reporters there was "no big strategic thinking" behind his choice. According to her, Harper - an accomplished amateur pianist - knew the song and it was within his vocal range.

"I thought it would be a fun surprise," she said.

Well, on that level, it certainly worked. Both the audience and the orchestra were taken completely by surprise and their accompanying applause, sing-a-longs and standing ovations showed they were also thrilled by his performance.

What's more, it showed a side of Harper - a human side - which is seldom on display.

But back to the politics of it, his choice of that song - even if it wasn't deliberate - is dripping with irony.

At the same time that beleaguered Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff was hosting his party's Quebecwing convention - and trying to pretend the recent public spat between the various party factions isn't really serious (it is, actually) - Harper was upstaging him with his performance.

But then, Harper's been doing that ever since Ignatieff decided to turn his professor's cap and gown for political office.

And, until very recently, it was Ignatieff - although not really a Harper "friend" in the usual sense of the word - who kept Harper's minority government afloat by continuing to dump on everything the Tories proposed only to turn around and vote for it.

After months and months of riding that pony - and slipping consistently in the polls - Ignatieff decided he'd had that deal and announced that Harper's time as prime minister was over. He, Michael Ignatieff, would bring down the Tories and send us into an election.

Unfortunately for Ignatieff - or perhaps fortunately, given his fading electoral prospects - Ignatieff needed the help of his "friends", NDP Leader Jack Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe - in order to defeat the Tories.

So while Ignatieff continues to make an ass of himself - announcing he's voting against things even before he knows what they are - he has discovered that Layton, who talked big until faced with consequences for his actions, has decided that Harper is his "friend," and has announced he'll continue to prop up the Tories because, well, because his prospects for an election are even worse than Ignatieff's.

Your correspondent was thinking about Layton the other day when I opened my mail and, lo and behold, there was a four-page, black-and-white brochure aimed at Toronto residents, picturing both Harper and Ignatieff on the front cover - both looking horribly grim - along with the following text: "Your Liberal MP is propping up Stephen Harper. Is that what you voted for?"

Oh my.

Inside, beside a picture of the Toronto skyline, the brochure claims Harper is "pushing his conservative agenda" - imagine that, a conservative pushing a conservative agenda - and in larger type charges, "You MP is helping him do it."

It asks why Toronto's Liberal MPs "stand by as Harper denied the city even one cent in stimulus funds?" Perhaps it's because this charge is a baldfaced lie. Toronto has received many million dollars in stimulus funds. They were later than other cities, it's true. But that's because the NDP mayor - David Miller - didn't apply for anything which qualified under the program while he pushed for new streetcars (which would create lots of jobs in Thunder Bay, but not in Toronto).

But why bother with truth when there's a country to convert to socialism, eh Jack?

Then the NDP brochure says the Liberals propped up Harper's conservative agenda "79 times and counting."

Now, of course, it is Layton who is "propping up (Harper's) conservative agenda," and not the Liberals.

Which leads to the obvious question that if Jack Layton thinks it is bad for Toronto - and presumably bad for Canada too - for the Liberals to prop up the Harper government, which is presumably why Layton kept voting against the government until the Liberals decided they would too, then why isn't it equally bad for Toronto and/or Canada for Layton to now be doing exactly the same thing? Fact is, the guy who would benefit most if an election were foisted upon us is clearly Harper. But he's not in a hurry because the longer he stays in office, the better his chances look.

All, of course, with a little help from his "friends."