An oldie but goodie - Number 101

When I heard the news yesterday from Canada of the break up of the terrorist group (See "Two letters to Canadian neighbors" ), one of the thoughts that passed through my mind was: "Thank God Jean Chretien is gone and Steve Harper is Prime Minister."

The U.S. and Canada will work more effectively on mutual security measures with Harper than would have been possible with Chretien.

Chretien was sort of North America's Jacques Chirac.

Thinking about the PM change led me to recall a post you might enjoy rereading today. It went up Jan. 24, 2006.

Title: "How did The Washington Post miss all those Canadians?"

Here's part of it:

Yesterday's Canadian election confirmed what polls and pundits had been reporting: Millions of voters strongly favored the Conservatives and were disgusted by the Liberal's stumbling social policies and massive corruption.

But The Washington Post apparently couldn't locate any of those voters. At least, none were quoted in its post-election story, "Canadians Move Right, Elect New Leadership."

The Post only quoted one person who even claimed to have voted Conservative. And it told its readers said she did so “reluctantly:”

"I think we have to give it a try. But I am very afraid that it will be too far right," said Florence Koven, 72, emerging from the polls after voting -- reluctantly, she said -- for the Conservative Party. "The unknown always concerns you. Mr. Harper (the Conservative leader) says he is a changed man; we'll see how much he has changed."

Yes indeed, all of us on both sides of the border need to be sooo careful about voting for Conservatives. And if they win, we must always hope they change once in office.

If you go to the post, take a look at the comment thread. The post was linked by www.nealenews.com, a major Canadian blog. That drew about 20 comments from Canadians. Although the topic was politically charged, their comments are without exception civil and interesting. And a few had some nice humor.