To Glen Murray, the openly gay mayor of this western prairie city, Stockwell Day is a homophobic, "dangerous man" whose ambition to become Canada's prime minister threatens "this country with some of the most extremist policies ever".
And, when the former Prime Minister of Singapore and his son, the deputy prime minister, threatened to sue for libel because of an article in the International Herald Tribune suggesting that the deputy prime minister had been appointed to his post in an act of nepotism, the paper, which is owned by the New York Times and the Washington Post, issued an abject public apology.
Whether it's the deputy prime minister threatening to put down Johnny Depp's dogs, a prime-ministerial body count that rivals Game of Thrones or stealing political slogans from fictional TV shows such as Veep, politics in Australia can seem weird from afar.
The prime minister threatened the Guardian with legal action on Monday.
Last month, Australia's prime minister threatened international legal action against Japan if it did not end its whaling.
Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, threatened a bombardment of Lebanon akin to Israel's summer devastation of parts of Gaza.
Last week, the prime minister threatened a parliamentary vote of confidence in a last throw to rescue his government.
The prime minister threatened to resign unless he was given full control over the PA's security apparatus.
Earlier, the senior army general, Than Shwe, who also serves as prime minister, threatened to "eliminate" rivals of the regime.
The rebels fell into line after the former prime minister threatened to call a general election if he was defeated.
