Oh Canada

Talk about the perfect journalistic holiday! As I was loading up the car from a smallish hotel in Quebec earlier this month for the journey back to Washington, D.C.,the Steve Harper campaign bus pulled up next door in front of the Frontenac Hotel, a landmark lodging on the Saint Lawrence River.
Harper ,45, is the Conservative candidiate for Prime minister. He sports John F. Kennedy's hair style, has John F. Kerry's wooden pose, and Ronald Reagan's message about low taxes and less government spending. A total underdog six months past, Harper has emerged from the pack like Smarty Jones and burst into the lead ahead of the current PM, the Liberal Party's Paul Martin, 66.
I asked my wife Rachel if she would mind very much cooling her heels while I dashed next door for a close-up look at Harper. I had no trouble gaining entry to the event. I merely flasked my business card when asked for identification. Had I tried this in the states at a campaign event then I would have been wrestled to the floor and handcuffed. Canada retains an innocense about security that we once enjoyed in the States circa 1962.
The room for the event was much larger than the crowd, which consisted of press and party loyalists. Canadians in general are not big on campaign events. And in Quebec, the most socialist enclave north of Cuba, Harper is not popular. He is viewed as a threat to government handouts which are cherished by the residents of that Province, despite the need for ridiculously high taxes to finance them.
Harper gave a lackluster speech. The press asked unimmaginative questions. The nest day, Harper surged ahead in the polls. I think this had more to do with Ronald reagan's funeral far to the south than with Harper himself. Reagan's celebratory launch into the netherworld was front-page news throughout Canada. His greatness was felt there as much as at home. Harper is Reagan's heid, a pint-sized Canadian version, his own mini-me. If the Gipper's passing was a shot in the arm for George Bush then it was God-send for Steve Harper. He should say a novena at the Gippers shrine if his numbers hold up and on June 28 his party sweeps into power.