Canada takes to the polls today (Oct. 19), and John Oliver has risked criminal punishment by warning prospective voters away from their incumbent prime minister, on the latest episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
Those in the United States may not spend much time thinking about Canada, but as with any next-door neighbor, Oliver notes, “You would be sad if she started dating a complete and utter d***head.”
The alleged d***head in question is Conservative party leader Stephen Harper, whose re-election bid has put him in a tight three-way race with the Liberal party and the New Democratic party.
Canadian law forbids those from outside Canadian from trying to influence votes in the election; those who break the law can face six months in jail and a 5,000 Canadian dollar ($3,860) fine. But Oliver is highly critical of Harper for passing laws to weaken environmental protections, scaling back healthcare for refugees, and pandering to Islamaphobes.
And so he decides it’s worth the risk to break Canadian law, and to do so in the most Canadian way possible—with the help of a beaver playing Sweet Caroline, a moose getting a colonoscopy under Canada’s healthcare system, and comedian Mike Myers dressed as a Mountie and riding a snowplow.
“I can’t imagine a better way to spend C$5,000,” says Oliver.