CANADIAN READER JAMES MCKENZIE-SMITH proudly forwards this poll, which he says demonstrates that 66% of his fellow Canadians have their heads screwed on straight:

VANCOUVER – Canadians want even closer economic ties to the United States to increase their standard of living, and are increasingly confident they can compete on an equal footing with American industry, a new poll by the Liberal party’s pollster suggests.

Michael Marzolini, the chairman of Pollara, told the National Post yesterday a solid majority of Canadians — 66% — want the Chrétien government to foster greater U.S. economic integration. Only 5% are adamantly opposed.

“We are not fearful of American influence on our culture or our sovereignty as we were a number of years ago,” he said. “There are obviously still some concerns, but I was amazed to find that it is less than three in 10.”

The poll found that while 66% want stronger economic integration with the United States, 29% are somewhat opposed and 5% are absolutely against it.

The poll of 1,200 Canadians was conducted between Sept. 27 and Oct. 1 and is considered accurate plus or minus 2.9 percentage points 19 times out of 20.

Hmm. I hope someone tells Chretien.