Oh! Canada?

I've had an unhealthy interest in Canadian politics since roughly 2005. It goes back to something called the Ghomery Scandal, the details of which escape me, but which intrigued me because the press was forbidden from reporting on it by a judge. American bloggers kept getting the details and sending them north.

A year later Stephen Harper was elected.

Like most Americans I hadn't thought about Canada much before 9/11. It was that country to the north. Heck, lots of times I would forget that it was even there. I was only vaguely aware that the Toronto Blue Jays played in another country until an incident in 1993 when Yankee fans gave 'Oh Canada' the ol' Bronx Cheer.

Canada came into my consciousness via Mark Steyn, who for me anyway, skyrocketed after 9/11. After reading a lot of his stuff I remember thinking, 'Oh yeah, Canada. I had forgotten about it, tucked away down there.'

The dates are a little hazy but I know for certain that by 2003 I was hooked. I was a Steynian, a Steyniac. I vividly recall sitting in my dinning room reading his stuff at the old Western Standard. He used to write about Canada being a power within in the commonwealth, a major contributor to the Allied cause in WWII. I looked into it myself, and eventually wrote a short magazine article about the Canucks in WWII, and sure enough, Canada had a large navy and army of half a million men. Here was a muscular, confident democracy unafraid to go to war. A far cry from the 'wimps' National Review wrote about.

I paid attention to Steyn's 'Deranged Dominion', following the elections. Harper won in 2006 and again in 2008. 2011 he really romped, walloping Professor Michael Ignatieff. A nice enough man. I always felt bad for him.

Harper got trounced last night by Justin Trudeau. A dilettante playboy with a thin resume and questionable paternity. Allegedly his father was Pierre Trudeau, Canadian PM.

What are these sober, clear headed people doing putting a guy like Trudeau into office?

Oh Canada, you don't ever get to complain about America again.