TORONTO, Canada (Toronto Star) - So Australian Prime Minister John Howard is counselling Stephen Harper on how to run a country? Howard is the soul of American outreach and its spokesman. He has abandoned Australia to American influence and to American interests. With the Australian voting system of proportional representation, he will stay in power and Australia will irretrievably become a U.S. satellite doing the big brother's bidding.

Australians can't seem to figure out how to get rid of him so they have learned to live with him and apologize to the world for him. Howard sees himself as a great leader and Australians see him as an embarrassing U.S. parasite. His foreign and domestic policy are firmly in the hands of Washington.

Whatever you do, Canada, avoid this at all costs. Losing one's identity for the economic crumbs thrown by the big brother impoverishes the spirit and impoverishes the will of the people to seek viable alternatives. We are on the same road Australia took some eight years ago and as we in Canada are not yet drowning, we have to extricate ourselves.

Losing our sovereignty makes us subject to others' desires and whims — like having to put our people in harm's way because their troubles are forcibly made ours. Their propaganda becomes our thoughts; their rhetoric becomes our policy. We have time to stop it.