Stephen Harper has taken a certain amount of flak for saying that phrase. But let's think about it: would it have been better if he had said 'Canada is the United States'?
So let's go through the inventory.
Today's data for automobile sales in September:
- Canadian vehicle sales nudge higher in September. Canadians bought more vehicles in September as import namebrands,
which have traditionally focused on smaller, more fuel efficient
vehicles, kept chipping away at the market share of the Detroit-based
Big Three.Automakers sold 134,131 vehicles overall in Canada in the month, up
1.7 percent year-over-year, industry figures released on Wednesday
showed. - Auto sales tank. The recent [US] data has been nothing short of astonishing. Auto sales, which were weak over the past 11 months, simply went into freefall in September…
Okay, so things will be different in October. The point is that before the financial meltdown, the US economy was already in a much worse state than in Canada. (See also this post.)
The other thing to note is the ability to withstand and respond to a crisis (data are taken from the IMF):
2007 Government net debt as per cent of GDP:
- Canada: 25.1
- US: 44.0
2007 Government surplus as per cent of GDP:
- Canada: 1.0
- US: -2.5
2007 Current account surplus, per cent of GDP:
- Canada: 0.9
- US: -5.3
US policy makers are faced with a huge problem, and they have precious few attractive choices before them. Canadian policy makers are faced with a not-quite-so-huge-but-pretty-darn-worrisome-nonetheless problem, and they have more room to manoeuvre.
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative 
Wait, Stephen, are you agreeing with Harper? Don’t you know, as we all learned in the French debate last night, that he has ruined the Canadian economy, dilapidated the surplus and aligning himself with Bush’s failed policies? Don’t you know he is the only leader without a plan to rescue our crashing economy from irreversible failure?
Say it ain’t so.
It ain’t so.
Hmm… I think many people may under estimate Harper…I value his poise, his confidence and his chrisma. He looks like a “perfect” representative for Canadian in the midst of the current climate in the world. In the first election I would believe that he was aligned with Bush–but now I see an experienced man who’s priority is to see the greater good of all in our country.
I believe that he watches the US so that we don’t make the same mistakes…