As Canada's parliamentary crisis reaches a crescendo, many Canadians have one question on their minds -- "so, is the rest of the world paying attention to us yet?"
The answer is definitely more than usual (the usual not at all), and with a great amount of confusion about the Canadian political system.
On The Huffington Post, former U.S ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg wrote a column entitled, "'Prorogue Eh' A coup in Ottawa?" in which he teaches Americans about Canadian politics in a Grade 5 teaching style and with a heaping helping of clich�s.
Ginsberg mentions "loonies," Mounties (spelled incorrectly), Molson beer and that's just the opening paragraph.
Other American media were clearly having some fun with their normally boring neighbours.
A story from online magazine Slate begins: "A royal appointee shutting down Parliament; national cross-country protests; bloodthirsty accusations of treason and sedition. All the frictions of a new democracy. I hope they work it out in Thailand!
No, welcome to Canadian politics in 2008."
Wonkette, a Washington gossip website, called the crisis shocking because " well-to-do white-nerd countries had supposedly given up on such uncouth measures as overthrowing the state. "
Some foreign news sites had an up tick in interest in Canadian politics.
On the New York Times' website the term "Canada" was the 19th most searched term in the last seven days, nestled in between "Iraq" and "Yankees."
Less popular than Iraq, but more popular than the world's most famous baseball team, albeit in the off-season. How's that for the ego, eh?
