Received a great note from Canadian reader Stephen G who helps sum up the Obama Nafta-gate nonsense from the perspective of his higher latitude…

I thought you’d be interested in some follow-up on the Canadian Obama NAFTA-smear memo fiasco.

The story is screaming from the front pages up here, because the leak of the memo that started it all has been traced to a member of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s inner circle: Ian Brodie, his Chief of Staff.

Front-page article from today’s Toronto Star

Some more details from a Toronto Star blog on politics

And an editorial, also from the Star

Our current Conservative government is notorious up here for its distrust of the press and centralized control of its relations with the media. Even Cabinet Ministers don’t dare deviate from the talking points on issues handed down to them by the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office.)

So there is no way that something like this could happen by accident, or without high-level approval. Our Foreign Affairs personnel — the actual consular and embassy staff — are too professional and too mindful of Canada’s relationship with the U.S. to think of interfering in your domestic politics. And nobody in the government would dare to leak something of this magnitude without marching orders from the top.

Whether the Prime Minister directly authorized this or not, he has to have known about it.

If it wasn’t so blatantly obvious, it would be unbelievable, but… all messaging in this government comes from the top down. That is how they operate.

As a background tidbit: The Conservatives are already in hot water over information that just surfaced, from very reputable sources, that a couple of years ago, when they were the Opposition, they tried to buy support for a vote in Parliament against the then-Liberal government. By offering a million-dollar life insurance policy. To an independent MP. Who they knew was dying of cancer (that’s the ‘Chuck Cadman affair’ you’ll see mentioned in some of those articles).

All I can say is that I didn’t vote for these jerks, and they don’t speak for most Canadians. The majority of us are disgusted by what is clearly a Hail-Mary attempt to help their ideological pals the Republicans, by sabotaging Obama.

Congratulations on your 100th strip! Looking forward to more…

Thanks, Stephen, for the links and the great info.

– Steve

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