Leftie though I may be I’ve gotta give basement bunker points to Stephen Harper, he earned them.

US Ambassador David Wilkins described Canada’s response to American absolute refusal to live up to their NAFTA responsibilities and obligations as “emotional tirades”, in those words Harper saw an opportunity to break clear of the “I would really rather be an American and so you you if you gave it some thought” image, and give the Liberal government a significant poke and the same time - and he capitalized on it perfectly.

The first punch went towards Washington (that’s gotta make any Canadian, regardless of political stripe, who is following this dispute happy) with a “I think the U.S. ambassador is way out of line” jab to the chest, immediately followed by the “But a big part of the reason this has happened is the Liberal government has allowed communications with the Americans to break down entirely.” big right hook - that no doubt has the collective CPoC machine cheering, clapping, and whistling - as they should.

By taking a jab at the US government and standing up for Canada, while taking a successful swipe at the Martin government, Harper has shed (at least temporarily) the bumbling reformer cowboy persona who is always just a few beats behind and shown some solid political metal - if he can keep this sort of thing up Martin has cause to be more than a little nervous about calling his promised election.