Finally some common sense. Harvard scholar Michael Ignatieff, who is rumoured to be the handpicked new leader of Canada's Liberal Party came up with some astute remarks about Canada's decision not to participate in the North American Missile Defence plans yesterday:

"The decision will be popular in the party. But we need clarity on our national defence policy," Ignatieff said, telling the convention in his keynote address last night that Canada needs to balance a principled opposition to the future weaponization of space to the equally principled commitment to participate in North American defence.

"We do not want our decisions to fragment the command system of North American defence, and we do not want a principled decision to result in us having less control over our national sovereignty," he said. "We must not walk away from the table. We must be there, at the table, defending what only we can defend."

A Blairite touch I would say and in a way that's welcome news. Ignatieff's potential leadership role however would once again enable the Liberal Party to monopolize the political center, attract a fair chunk of Canada's right of center voters and remain in power for years to come. It's once more proof of the Liberal Party's shrewdness and the cluelessness of the conservative opposition. The one-party state is no longer a concept, it's a Canadian reality.