It occurred to me as I typed that title that there are two chairmans Steve, and in fact the one I wasn't thinking of has more claim to that title, and he's in the news right now too.

The one I was thinking of was the one who is on the brink of getting a better house in Ottawa. The reason I brought him up is this: there's a quote of his I love. It came up n response to a question about a "tobacco-free Canada" initiative the Liberals were proposing: "People will have a drink and people will have a smoke and that's the way life goes."

A politician who occasionally concedes the existence of reality is a wonderful thing. He added another one, which I must thank Andrew Coyne for digging up:
"Canadians don't hate things. That is not the nature of Canadians. Canadians can disagree but it takes a lot to get Canadians to intensely hate something or hate somebody and usually it involves hockey."

Context etc. on Coyne's post, but if Harper gets to move to Sussex Drive soon, the fact that he's been standing around wonking about policy and saying reasonable things like this all campaign will be a big part of it. That, and the Gomery inquiry.

One or two more election items, as long as I'm blowing my Trotskyite cover: Andrew Coyne is strongly recommending that you not post early election returns in his comments section, though he suggests that posting the results of some imaginary, fictional election that doesn't involve the Canadian parties might be acceptable, so that's probably a place to not look for early returns when you're not violating the law. If you aren't looking there, here's a quick key: the four major parties of this imaginary land are the Fascists, Crooks, Commies and Traitors. No further hints should be needed.

Two other guesses: the WIkipedia entry on the 2006 election is likely to be frequently updated, and among American bloggers, Captain's Quarters is most likely to spurn Canada's noble election law.