Canada's new prime minister, Stephen Harper, whose minority government was elected on the promise he would break the highly centralized power of "the PMO," the Prime Minister's Office, has begun by establishing what is beginning to look like the most powerful PMO in Canada's peacetime history. At the same time he has scored a publicity coup by paying a surprise visit to Canadian troops in Afghanistan, gaining top attention in the print and electronic media for three days running. He has also responded to left-wing demands that Canada withdraw from that country by refusing a parliamentary debate on the question...