The conservatives just recently lost the best chance they've had in a long time to remove the liberals (democrats), and they've been losing mind share. If the conservatives were in power, I'd say that there could be a chance for a 51st state kind of workout agreement. And coincidentally enough, Alberta has the most conservatives per capita.

But lately, Canada has been increasingly showing a backbone in their relations with the US (proposing new tariffs since the US won't remove their softwood tariffs despite having lost in a recent trade court). My hope is that as PO becomes something which is more apparent that the NDP (think of a cross between green, democrats, and the marijuana party with some sprinklings of libertarian individual rights) stands to become a contender. They're the third largest party in the Canadian political system, and while they usually get 18-21% of the vote, that's a heckuva lot more than all non-bipartisan parties in the US combined get. As people turn against the liberals, it will mainly be a choice between the conservatives and the NDP. And while a lot of people seem to think nicely of the US, they don't want to become the US, and certainly don't support a lot of the initiatives that the conservatives do (war in Iraq, increasing drug war, etc). But that could just be the segment of the population that I come across with, as well as my being well aligned with the NDP's principles.