John Gushue, from his Dot Dot Dot cyberperch on the Rock, noted yesterday that John Crosbie turned 75.

Some remarks of his I remember from the election 2006 coverage of NTV:

Crosbie said of the Liberals: "Power corrupts, and fear of losing power corrupts absolutely."

His Liberal foil, Sen. George Baker -- and a man of considerably sharp wit himself -- tried to turn chicken droppings into chicken salad by saying that voter turnout was up, even in the prisons.

"I think George is inferring there's a lot of Liberals in the prisons," Crosbie said (use an imagined Newfoundland accent in your mind when you read that).

In a 2004 appearance on CTV Newsnet, Baker joked about perhaps sitting too close to Crosbie, saying with a chuckle, "He might bite me."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry, George," replied Crosbie, who added, "You're not that invitin' to bite." :)

I forget the context, but Mike Duffy asked him about an award or some such thing, and Crosbie retorted that: "We should give you an award -- for shiniest head."

The Duffster laughed. He even had Crosbie on with Sheila Copps  (of "Pass the tequila, Sheila" fame) that campaign, and the two got on pretty well.

Barring irredeemable character flaws of an evil type, I'm always willing to extend good wishes to those who add some verbal spice to life, and so I'll do so to Mr. Crosbie!

The NYT, when I woke up this morning, didn't have a Canadian election story on its front page. The BBC had a tiny headline for it, and the Guardian didn't have it on its home page.

Washingtonpost.com had a headline in the 'world' section of its homepage saying 'Canadians move right, elect Conservatives.' However, the staff-written story was on the front page of the print edition.

USAToday also had an AP story in the world section of its homepage, saying 'Conservatives win in Canada.' There was a follow-up AP story -- 'Is Harper a moderate thinker or closeted right-winger?'

Off to a flick, but if you trip over this posting from some exotic place outside Canada, could you please tell me how our election played? TIA.

Update

The Beeb had a staff feature this evening on its home page entitled 'Canada's leader faces frustration.' Back to back stories about a former colony! :)

On the NYT's international page, there's a news analysis by staffer Clifford Kraus entitled 'To the right, gently.' Its main point was that the vote is more of a desire to kick the Liberals in the pants than an embrace of Tory policies.

The Washington Post profiles Harper: 'Canada's Harper seen as shrewd, serious, bland'. The Post had several other stories too: U.S.-Canada relations expected to improve (AP) and U.S. bids warm farewell to Canada's Martin (AP).

The conservative Washington Times editorialized on the election:

... Mr. Harper vows efforts to make Canada "more united, stronger, more prosperous and a safer country," all goals we obviously support. But it's unclear how much power he will have to accomplish all this. The only sure positive is that the shrill anti-Americanism and the crescendo of Canada-pillorying from the United States should diminish in the coming months as the new government takes form. 

In the meantime, Canada will get to see what a Conservative government, albeit a limited one, and one that is not really analogous to our Republican Party, can accomplish.

You can visit Elections Canada's website or call them at 1 800 463-6868.

If you wish, check out this feature I wrote  wrote for CTV.ca on Stephen Harper.

Here's a feature I did for CTV.ca on Quebec and the election.