The slow news season kicks off

You can tell that we've reached the news doldrums when articles like this are treated as real news:

One of Canada's most popular authors is taking a decidedly novel approach in his efforts to encourage appreciation of the arts — he's started a website to help expand Prime Minister Stephen Harper's literary horizons.

Yann Martel, the author of the award-winning 2002 novel "Life of Pi," is behind the website "What Is Stephen Harper Reading," a project aimed giving the prime minister a little taste of culture. Since April, Martel has been mailing Harper a different inscribed book every two weeks, along with a personal letter praising the book's virtues. The letters are posted online at www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca.

Martel admits he's taking a few jabs at Harper, but insists he isn't preaching.

"There's no point in writing to someone if you're going to insult them. I certainly don't agree with the prime minister — I'd never vote for him — but that doesn't mean one becomes petty and petulant," he says.

There you go, a perfect encapsulation of Canadian smug. Of course Stephen Harper is culturally illiterate . . . he's a Tory. Tories are well known, among the educated urban elite, for their disinterest in — if not active hatred for — all things cultural. In some ways, it's surprising that Martel is bothering to send real books, as Tories are also thought to be largely unable to read . . . perhaps he's sending the "large print" versions?