Harper Understands The Canadian Physche...

....and his decisions cater to it. Spector delves into the back bacon, poutine and beer priorities.

Norman Spector, writing in The Globe and Mail, suggests Stephen Harper might be leery of adopting "a firm foreign policy on the issue of climate change" given Canadians' wavering commitment to the Afghanistan mission, and their aversion to tough policy initiatives in general. Afghanistan is a "Liberal war," it "satisfied all Jean Chrétien's professed reasons for staying out of Iraq" and it fulfilled our stated desire "to play an active role on the international stage," Spector argues, but for many Canadians, "foreign policy is about feeling good about themselves, not about Afghans … or any other people." Chrétien understood that perfectly, Spector suggests, when he agreed to aggressive Kyoto targets with no intention of honouring them. And Harper may be catching on as well.