Listen to Stephen Harper and you might think Canada plays to our nationalstereotype when it comes to the world of finance. We might be boring but atleast we don't stand for the risky policies adopted by our American cousins.

In response to a pessimistic Merrill Lynch report on Canada's housingmarket, for example, Harper said "We don't have the same situation here withthe mortgages as was the case in the U.S. with the subprime mortgages there.So, therefore, I think that our market is in a much stronger position."

There are differences in the Canadian and U.S. housing markets, differencesthat can generate sharply contrasting points of view on whether Canada willexperience a housing meltdown comparable to the one in the U.S.