For the next couple of months the Americans will be participating in an exercise in mass democracy entirely without precedent or equivalent in our sad dominion, and offering a thoroughly irritating reminder of just how backwards and elitist the Canadian party system remains in contrast.

On CBC's The National Canada's PM proved he may actually be one of the western world's last surviving neo-cons. From Afghanistan to Iraq to Lebanon to Libya, in his long political career, the man has rarely met an invasion he didn't like, or an international dispute in which force was not a viable solution.

British Columbians are constantly bombarded with government propaganda in virtually every aspect of their daily lives, and the state now funds everything from anti-salt propaganda contests to seniors' aerobics videos.And this, we are told, is the alternative to NDP-style undisciplined over-spending and over-promising.