What a friendly debate!

Some people might think that watching Mr. Wilson from Dennis the Menace yell at Future President Obama was uncomfortable. Some people could even call McCain sneering and crotchedy. But Stéphane Dion , possible but unlikely Canadian Prime Minister, begs to differ:

Dion mentioned the U.S. presidential candidates' debate Friday, pointing out that Barack Obama and John McCain were able to disagree without making accusations.

Hahaha. From saying Obama doesn't support the troops to saying he wants America to lose in Iraq, McCain launched plenty of accusations in the air. Ah well -- but I should probably mention who this Dion guy is.

Stéphane Dion is the leader of the opposition Liberal Party in Canada. Actually, he leads one of four opposition parties -- whose leaders will all be on stage for the Canadian debates this week. If you rue the narrow range of opinions on display in our country, you may want to check this out. On Wednesday night, CPAC (the northern equivalent of C-Span) will be live-streaming the Canadian party leaders' debate, with a cast of many:

• Incumbent Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He's from Alberta (Canada's answer to Texas), and is rather socially conservative. However, he's fiscally liberal compared to the American stream. Harper may play it safe with a wide lead in his polls. Harper isn't entirely in line with American opinion, but benefits from the idiots facing him. A rather pro-American leader within Canadian context.
  
• Liberal leader Stephane Dion, who backs spending beyond any Democrat's dream. No real personality and burdened with an astounding legacy of Liberal corruption. Dion is a former university academic and it shows.
  
• New Democrat Jack Layton. Layton is to the left of Dion, and varies between attacking the Conservatvies, whose platform is anathema to his party, and the Liberals, whose voters could actually be talked into supporting him.
• Green leader Elizabeth May, who is pretty much a socialist. Her party has little real support, but has threatened and sued its way onto stage for this night.
  
• Quebec Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe. It is almost unimaginable that English-speakers would vote for the leader of this party in real numbers. He and his party advocate the bisection of Canada by a sovereign Quebec. It's similar to sending a cattle rancher to a PETA meeting.

The interplay of these five leaders -- who attacks whom, who backs whom, etc., is reminiscent of the primary debates. More importantly, it determines who will lead America's greatest trading partner. And for fun's sake, if Dion thinks that our debate was more civilized than what we'll be seeing from Canada, imagine how much fun it will be!

(Another leaders' debate will be held on Thursday in French, but I imagine most of us will be watching the vice presidential debate.)