Will The Maple Leaf Fall?

Captain Ed's post, Austin Bay: Will Canada Be The Next Failed State? uses the Adscam Scandal as a prism through which to view Canada's ailing national unity. Austin Bay's article may be tongue-in-cheek, but the problem is real. Captain Ed comments:

I for one don't find this instability encouraging. We may have our differences on international policy and other issues with Ottawa, but we have a long and treasured relationship with a united Canada. We share one of few demilitarized international borders based on centuries of friendship, trust, and a shared sense of mission, even if our cultures differ in small but significant ways. Dissolution will abruptly and sharply change that relationship, complicating not just our security situation but the nature of the North American continent altogether.

For this reason, I remain absolutely stumped about the lack of interest shown thus far by the American media in the Adscam scandal. (emphasis added, ed.) Though a Liberal government collapse looks imminent and probably unavoidable, even a newspaper as close to Canada as the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has barely mentioned it. The lack of interest in Canadian politics will catch Americans with their pants down if Quebec goes its own way and precipitates a general collapse of the national system in Canada, an embarassing development for a country that takes such an interest in global politics.

Point well made.