Is it just me," wondered Linda McQuaig in The Toronto Star, "or does anyone else find it ominous that Harper says 'God bless Canada'?" You don't have to do the full Jaws orchestral accompaniment to concede that Linda has a point: Whether or not it's "ominous," it is a little weird in contemporary public discourse to hear Stephen Harper say "God bless Canada." The question then arises: Why should it be so weird?