McGrath - No, country people are not at all deprived of sources of information these days, it's just a different kind of cultural stance, that's all. For instance, consider my town of Orillia, Ontario. It's in a lovely country region that has elected a Conservative MP ever since 1952!!! Even when the Conservatives were dead and buried in Toronto, they would still get elected in this area. They could probably run a chimp here and get elected.

Now what is Orillia and area like? Well, it's known as a retirement town. The population is a lot older on average than in Toronto, and the teenagers mostly move to Toronto as soon as they are out of high school if they are at all gifted and independent. The population is typical old white anglo-saxon Canada as it used to be in the 50's in Toronto. It's the old British Empire establishment, you could say.

And in Canada, those are the people most likely to vote Conservative and to support the neo-con social agenda generally.

They're not stupid, they're well educated, they're generally rather well off, and they've got the political instincts of a moribund jackass (in my opinion).

- LH