What did media outside of Canada think about our election?

The killing of terrorist Osama bin Laden may have been the top world news story Monday, but American and British media still found room for the Canadian election.

While most took a serious tone reporting the Stephen Harper majority and the Liberal decimation, some had some more interesting and funny things to say about Canada.

"Bet you didn't know Canada had an election Monday," read the lede of a USA Today article. The brief story states that while the world talked about bin Laden, Canadians voted.

U.S. blog Gawker warned Americans that Canada is now a nation of political extremists.

"Warning: Bumpy Canadian politics ahead," starts the piece. It explained Canadians voted for the extremes of the Conservatives and NDP while obliterating the moderate Liberals.

With the NDP taking so many seats from the Bloc Quebecois, Gawker stated, "It would appear that the Bloc is about as appealing to voters as a plate of congealed poutine." The warning note ends with a recommendation to the U.S. to build giant border fences with barbed wire.

"The prime minister's popularity was largely due to his stewardship of the economy during the global recession," states a Christian Science Monitor article. "Canada did far better than its neighbour to the south in weathering the storm and in a recovery."

U.K. newspaper, The Guardian, cites Green party Elizabeth May winning a seat in B.C. as the biggest story of the election.

The Green party currently holds one seat in the U.K. House of Commons. "Now May will present the voice for the environment, in contrast to other parties who have played political lip service to environmental issues."

British outlet, The Independent, credited the Tories' victory to appealing to coffee drinkers. "The Conservatives have built support in rural areas and with the 'Tim Horton's crowd' - a reference to the chain of doughnut shops popular with working-class Canadians."

Time Magazine wrote a piece about Canadians illegally tweeting results before all the polls closed. "This is about as dangerous as it gets in the Great White North."

However, it states those who were tweeting should worry about the punishment because "Elections Canada seems as docile and polite as the next Canadian."

(AFP photo)

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  ...zebra finch 1 hour agoReport Abuse

  Warning the americans about politically extreme Canada,that's rich.

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  ottawan 59 minutes agoReport Abuse

  Hey all you humour challenged Canadians....I am thinking this building fences stuff is satire! It is tongue in cheek humour....Come on Canada, laugh! We do have a sense of humour don't we? Don't we???

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  FourtyNiner 1 hour agoReport Abuse

  John :
  I, on the other, hand wish more Americans would come to Canada. I wish they would bring their industry with them to take advantage of our electricity, raw materials, workforce and ingenuity. I wish they would also bring their tourist dollars.
  I also wish that more Canadians stayed in Canada for the same reasons.

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  Miyagi 24 minutes agoReport Abuse

  I blame Iceland...

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  Timmy Laaglander 1 hour agoReport Abuse

  Stephen Harper and Jack Layton 'exterme'? Yea, extremely mundane and pedestrian...the way we like it, thank you!!

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  gemini 15 minutes agoReport Abuse

  The Christian Science Monitor may be partly right about Prime Minister Harper's role in helping us make it through the recession, but I understand the main reason we fared better than most other nations was our tougher banking regulations. They were put in place about a decade ago by previous other governments and kept our banks from the sort of actions that led to the financial meltdown.

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  sparkie 44 minutes agoReport Abuse

  All in good fun folks, I dont know why some people are getting irked. It is a subtle way of them saying we are quiet, peaceful, relaxed. WE ARE!!! A compliment, so please stop the bashing, enjoy the compliment and get back to that double-double, and for gods sake, roll up the rim, dont chuck it!