Stephen Harper's First Real "First"

His deficits sort of rank up there with the Mulroney years but Stephen Harper has just logged a real first - Canada's first trade deficit in 33-years.

Part of the turnaround results from plunging commodity prices. But another part, one that Harper was dead keen on promoting, is our over-reliance on the American market. Exports to the U.S. dropped 10%.

December figures show a trade deficit of just under half a billion dollars where, just months ago, we were accustomed to 5-6 billion dollar monthly surpluses.

The good news is that commodity markets do bounce back. The better news is that, by the time that happens, we'll probably have a new prime minister and a new government.

I think Harper's days are numbered. He's simply too invested in the now discredited Republican ideologies hatched during the Reagan era. Despite his visionless (and hence ineffective) deficit budgets, Steve doesn't grasp that America, and the world, have ditched what he so deeply cherishes.

The struggle between Keynes and Friedman has taken three decades to play out and it ended with the Friedman school presiding over global economic catastrophe. Stephen Harper is a man for the ages - or at least the 80's and 90's. His moment has passed. Now if we can just get through the aftermath.