From raven-haired beauties with links to bikers attending cabinet swearing-in ceremonies, to the so-called "Puffingate" scandal, this year has kept journalists busy and provided plenty of fodder for headlines.

The exciting year in Ottawa began with allegations of corruption against former prime minister Brian Mulroney, and ended with the near-fall of the government in December.

"This has been an unparalleled political year in terms of the direction it has taken and the events that occurred. It is seldom, if ever that there has been a year like this," said CTV's Chief Political Correspondent Craig Oliver told CTV.ca

With that in mind we felt it was time to look back on the stories that gripped the headlines this year, and compile a list of our favourite political stories from 2008.

The federal government's near collapse

We're actually still waiting to see how this one plays out at the end of January. But it's been an exciting few weeks with a rare game of high-stakes political chess playing out on Parliament Hill.

It all started with the Conservatives' fiscal update, which prompted the Liberals and NDP to form a coalition with the backing of the Bloc. The fired-up group pledged to topple the government when the bill came before Parliament a week later.

With few options open to him, Prime Minister Stephen Harper convinced Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean to prorogue Parliament until the end of January, keeping his government alive until it delivers a budget on the 27th -- and possible saving his own political neck.

"No one's ever seen anything like it," Oliver said, noting that the political mood was "feverish and angry."

"Nobody has ever used prorogation to prevent a defeat, that was unprecedented and the Governor General could easily have said sorry, and called on the Opposition to form a government, or called for an election."

The federal election

Canadians went to the polls this year for the third time in four years, and the result was the third straight minority government.

When the election was first called, most observers, Oliver included, believed the Conservatives' strong support in the polls, the deep divisions in the Liberal party and the weak leadership of Stephane Dion, would all lead to a Conservative majority.

But Harper's handling of Quebec -- where he desperately needed to gain ground -- demonstrated a deep misunderstanding of the political climate in the province, and probably cost him the majority he sought.

"Many of us believed a majority was within his reach, and I think it was, but he made those remarks in Quebec which were a complete mystery to all of us," Oliver said.

Allan Tupper, a political scientist from the University of British Columbia, agreed, blaming "Harper's blunder on arts funding, reinforced by the Conservatives' profound misunderstanding about Quebeckers' opinions on the treatment of young offenders."

The election was so loaded with material we came up with three subheadings:

'Puffingate'

Shortly after the election was called, the Conservatives launched a website aimed at engaging young people in mocking the Liberals, and particularly then-leader Stephane Dion and deputy-leader Michael Ignatieff.

The main page featured a picture of a nerdy-looking Dion, with a puffin flying over his head, and, ahem, pooping, on Dion's shoulder. Outrage ensued and most elements of the site were quickly taken down.

Grieving father's remarks questioned

Jim Davis, the father of a soldier who was killed in Afghanistan, was interviewed on Canada AM during the election. He offered some criticism of the mission, and Harper's announcement of a firm 2011 exit date.

Ryan Sparrow, a Conservative Party spokesperson, quickly made calls to media to point out that Davis is a Liberal supporter, suggesting his heartbreaking claim that his son's death would be in vain if the mission were abandoned, was politically motivated.

Again, outrage ensued, and the Tories suffered another black eye.

Questionable listeria jokes

In one more election kerfuffle, Conservative Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz made off-colour jokes about the listeria outbreak, while on a conference call.

The comments were released weeks later, at the height of the campaign, by someone who was in on the call.

In his remarks, Ritz called the deadly Maple Leaf Foods outbreak "The death of a thousand cuts, or should I say cold cuts." And when told there had been another death in P.E.I., he said "please tell me it's (Liberal agriculture critic) Wayne Easter."

The story gripped headlines and the Tories squirrelled Ritz away to a safe-house, avoiding the media until the storm had died down.

"I thought that was serious enough," Oliver said. "It should have cost him his job but Harper decided he was going to ride it out and he did."

Maxime Bernier falls from foreign affairs post over NATO documents and relationship with Julie Couillard

Ahh Maxime. What happened? Things were going so well for you, with your quick rise to a high-profile cabinet post.

Romantically, too, things seemed good, when you showed up at the cabinet swearing-in ceremony with that beautiful brunette on your arm, wearing that infamously revealing dress.

But easy come, easy go. And it went -- fast, starting with news that Couillard had links to Quebec bikers and eventually, with allegations Bernier had left top secret NATO documents at her house.

Bernier quickly resigned from his post and was relegated to the back benches where he has maintained a low profile ever since.

While it was certainly one of the more sexy scandals Canada has had in recent years, it also had political impact, Oliver said, hurting the reputation of the Foreign Affairs department and calling Harper's judgment into question.

"(Bernier) was so irresponsible it staggered diplomats and it shook their confidence in whether they could trust Canadians with important secrets," Oliver said.

"Furthermore the prime minister dismissed it as private business and we were all busybodies for caring about it, which showed tremendous misjudgment."

Obama campaign's NAFTA musings

During the U.S. primaries, the Barack Obama camp mused about renegotiating NAFTA, a move that could have serious repercussions for the Canadian economy, which relies heavily on cross-border trade.

The story probably would have ended there, but Harper's then-chief of staff Ian Brodie was accused of being involved with leaking a memo which claimed that a senior adviser to Obama reassured Canadian diplomats that the presidential candidate wasn't serious about renegotiating the NAFTA trade deal.

Observers said the leak harmed the campaign of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, who eventually lost to Hillary Clinton in the Ohio and Texas primaries.

Not long afterwards, Brodie stepped down from the role.

Schreiber, Mulroney square off before Commons committee

A battle between Karlheinz Schreiber, a German-born arms dealer, and former prime minister Brian Mulroney gripped headlines for weeks.

In his rambling, colourful testimony before a Commons committee, Schreiber accused Mulroney of accepting cash from him in exchange for lobbying on his behalf for government contracts.

Schreiber, who was fighting extradition to his homeland where warrants were outstanding for his arrest, accused Mulroney of lying and offering "smoke and mirrors" testimony about their dealings.

Earlier, Mulroney admitted he took money from Schreiber, calling it a "colossal mistake."

"I think it was a pathetic wreck, the whole business," Oliver said bluntly. "Schreiber would say anything and was desperate not to be returned to Germany where he would be put on trial for fraud, and it ruined Brian Mulroney's reputation for all time ... it was a tawdry business, the whole thing."

Cadman accusations

In one of the weirdest stories of the year, the widow of deceased independent MP Chuck Cadman went public with allegations that her husband had been offered a lucrative life insurance policy in 2005, if he were to support the Conservatives.

Cadman, who had cancer and died two months later, allegedly told his wife and daughter he had been offered a $1 million policy that would take care of them after he passed away.

He rejected the offer, she said, and eventually sided with the Liberals in a tight vote that the government barely survived at the time.

Then a tape emerged in which Harper is heard saying he was aware Conservatives had discussed "financial considerations" with Cadman as they tried to coax him into voting against the Liberals during a confidence vote.

The Tories had the tape analyzed by experts who claimed it had been doctored.

Making the story even stranger, Dona Cadman was preparing to run as a Conservative candidate in her husband's riding, when the story broke.