There are all sorts of atheists, Ron. Some are extreme, some are not. To be an atheist does not necessarily mean you think you can PROVE there is no God...it just means you think there isn't one. You have that opinion. It doesn't presuppose empirical proof. You are quite right, though, that the Canadian population is very unlikely to vote in someone they view as an extremist, and an aggressively outspoken atheist would appear so. People tend to go for the moderate center here if they possibly can, and the politicians are usually quite willing to provide a semblance of exactly that. ;-)

It is entirely optional whether or not one says "so help me God" in those oaths. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if some have not said it, but you wouldn't hear about it much, because most people here wouldn't even be interested to know. It wouldn't be a big deal, and most people wouldn't care. The number of people who would care is not large enough to intimidate our politicians.

The majority of the Canadian public seems to much prefer NOT to be told what a politician's religious views are. They figure that's a private matter (and in my opinion it is). They'd rather hear about his views on fiscal policy, foreign policy, employment issues, national unity, and other practical stuff like that.

Thus we presently have the amusing situation here of a Conservative Prime Minister who is apparently an evangelical Christian, but he is doing everthing he can to avoid drawing attention to it...because it would just lose him votes if he drew attention to it!

I think the contrast to the situation in the USA could hardly be more dramatic.