QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 12:44 P.M. ET:  British MP Dan Hannan comments eloquently on the loss last week of Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, who went down to electoral defeat.  From the Washington Examiner: 

The free world has lost its leader. In the absence of a vigorous American foreign policy, Canada's Stephen Harper supplied his own. For the better part of a decade, he energetically championed Western interests. He was serious about fighting terrorism, keen on free trade and prepared to deploy proportionate force in defense of freedom.

His defeat in last week's Canadian general election will be felt far beyond that sparse, chilly country. When other Western leaders fretted about Israel's 2006 Lebanon war, he gave his full backing to the Jewish state. When others dithered over Putin's invasion of Ukraine, he led international condemnation. Obliged to meet Vladimir Putin at a summit meeting, he was admirably curt: "I guess I'll shake your hand, but I have only one thing to say to you: Get out of Ukraine."

Canada, like most countries, partly defines itself with reference to what it isn't; but Harper was uncomplicatedly pro-American and pro-British. In his first overseas speech as prime minister, he told a London audience how glad he was that his was a common-law, Anglosphere nation. As a matter of historical fact, this might not seem especially radical; but, my goodness, what a refreshing break from the line taken by previous Canadian leaders, namely that their country was a happy multiculti fusion of First Peoples and Acadians and Vietnamese boat people.

COMMENT:  Absolutely true.  Harper is a giant compared to Obama.  As a world leader, he was in the Reagan tradition.  We will miss him.  And we will now be entertained by his elected successor, Justin Trudeau, who has much in common with Barack Obama.  Both are children.  Both are unprepared.  Both are loved by the chattering classes. 

Canada may be fun for the next few years, but it won't be serious.

October 26, 2015