Unemployment, and so on

[Jester]

I'm pretty sure he means that the rest of the world (1st world countries - do I have to clarify that?) don't place nearly the emphasis on abortion and gay rights issues as the US does. There are more important things to campaign on.

Sure. But two things. First, they are issues, even in Canada. They're not as big as in the states, but certainly over in Alberta, gay marriage was not a popular decision. Remember that Klein even threatened to invoke the notwithstanding clause. Alberta was only dragged into accepting gay marriage when it became federal law.

Second, the first world is not restricted to the Anglosphere. Italy, for instance, still has neither civil unions nor gay marriage. Nor in developed East Asia (Japan, Taiwan, etc...) nor in Eastern Europe (Poland, Greece, etc...). That's a lot of the first world, there. Abortion rights are more widespread, but Ireland, Poland, South Korea and even Japan to some extent make it illegal except for certain cases.

So, this is not just a US thing. FIT did not claim they were slightly less contentious issues; he claimed they weren't issues at all.

-Jester