It's been a really long week for me, and the country as a whole. I've been working really hard, on a ton of exciting projects. So, too, have the political parties in this country. All of them are coming closer than ever to achieving their agenda and creating a new type of government for Canadians.

On the one hand you have the Conservative party, about whose now-successful efforts at consolidating their hold on power I've been writing quite a bit.

On the other hand, you have a newly formed coalition that evokes strong emotion on all sides, and for the first time in a while genuinely threatens the otherwise arrogant Stephen Harper.

Now that parliament has been prorogued, the campaign for power moves into uncharted waters. While we're not in an election (yet), the airwaves are full of political ads, the media is talking about polls, and the internet is alive with the buzz of politics.

To some extent, the government has home field advantage, in that they can still govern, and appear to be hard at work navigating Canadians out of an economic maelstrom.

The coalition parties have their work cut out for them. Their challenge will be to stay in the news while the government bunkers down and hopes Canadians grow tired of the drama.

The key to the coalition's success is unity. But that doesn't mean there can't be dissent. Part of their strength lies in their diversity, and this diversity originates in the cities of Canada.

As I wrote earlier, this is an urban revolt. Members of Parliament who represent cities are rising up because their communities are being hit the hardest by economic downturns. They also know that the Harper government has disdain towards Canada's urban population and tends to neglect it.

Conservatives try to dehumanize and target Quebecers because they think they can get away with it (by only attacking them in English). If they could get away with doing the same thing to Canada's cities, they probably would. I would like to think that we would never let them. They need the cities to provide them with the heart, mind, and soul that sustains their suburban and exurban enclaves. If the cities rise up, they will be powerless to stop us.

So, on this Friday night, as I reflect on the week that has just passed and the week yet to come, I wonder if the rise of the city state is not only underway but building momentum at a pace that matches its internet influences.

What I think we're seeing is the rise of a co-operative federation, united in a multi-party coalition, which will show the world how we can work together in a new style of government. One that is heavily influenced by the norms and lessons found on the internet.

What's on my mind right now is a new kind of framework for co-ordination that allows for autonomy and shared intelligence. While the call should be for unity, this unity can and should be as loose and fluid as the network of networks itself.

In rough seas such as these, hopefully we can come together and navigate an alternate course around the disaster Stephen Harper seeks to take us through.