And Introducing Preznit Stephen Harper of Canada.....

Stephen Harper, Bush's little brother to the north, has decided (he's Canada's own Decider, so he has decided) to Americanize Canada.  Apparently, this is what's wrong with Canada, we're not Americans.  So says Canada's decider.  Well, he doesn't come right out and say that, because he's leading a minority government which can be brought down any day now (I hope) by a motion of No Confidence, forcing the dissolution of Parliament and new elections.

So what does Canada's own Decider decide to do?  He makes a decision, that's what. He decides that Canada will hold elections every four years, just like in the USA.

More below...  and poll!

Is Harper shifting the rules to extend his own mandate?  Probably, but he denies it:

"Fixed election dates prevent governments from calling snap elections for short-term political advantage. They level the playing field for all parties," Harper said during a speech in Victoria, British Columbia.

He said, however, that a government would still have to call an election immediately if it loses a confidence vote in the House of Commons, regardless of the next fixed election date.

In another Americanizing move, Harper is planning on moving Canada's senate closer to the American model, with a democratically elected Senate (as opposed to our present system of Senators appointed by the Queen's representative, the Governor General, following the recommendations of the Prime Minister).  This is an election promise that Harper broke immediately on forming his government, by appointing an unelected Senator from Quebec.  I'm not holding my breath waiting for any real reform from Harper, especially any reform that cuts back on his own powers.

What is the response from Canada?  Well, I could tell you what I think, but I would rather quote this opinion piece from Macleans:

Harper for president? It's not that bad - it's worse

For Harper, politics is about helping your friends and harming your enemies. It's tribal.

ANDREW POTTER

Stephen Harper just can't shake that hidden agenda. Back when he was a scary Reformer, the big worry was that he was a closet Alberta separatist pining for the return of back-alley abortions. Now that he's Prime Minister, the accusations are a touch more polite: apparently, Harper wants nothing more than to be President of Canada. (...)

There is an aspect of Harper's style that is far more threatening: his intense partisanship, an approach Andrew Coyne of the National Post describes as "tribal." For Harper, politics is about helping your friends and harming your enemies -- a blood sport in which no quarter is asked, and none offered. There's an American connection here...

The article goes on to discuss Harper's obsessions, and ends with this priceless observation:

The Conservatives are in power, but the danger is not that we have elected someone who wants to be George W. Bush. It is that we have elected someone who has no problem with a benign dictatorship, as long as he's the dictator, for whom principle and politics are like church and state, if not oil and water. We have re-elected Jean Chrétien.