It wasn't exactly a fireside chat, it happened on an Air Canada jet, after all. But continuing his new tradition, Stephen Harper came to the back of the plane late Saturday for a casual chat with reporters, shortly after his now famous high school reunion in Toronto.

And this time (happily), he came all the way back to where the CBC could hear him clearly.

Some highlights:

About the reunion itself: he says he had more fun the night before, with just his graduating classmates. The big event, Saturday, was for everyone who had gone to the school in 50 years.

To the question, did he really graduate with a 95 per cent average? Yes.

Then he volunteered the fallout from that: Harper ended up on the TV show Reach For The Top that year (Hello? CBC Archives?). But faced a toughie named Dino Zacconi who, as Harper puts it, "slaughtered" him.

Part of the reason for that, Harper said, was that (a) Zacconi was smarter than he was and (b) he was way faster on the button.

No loose ends

Zacconi, by the way, recently got in touch with Harper. He grew up to be a doctor in Texas.

Harper says that's one of the perqs of being PM — people you once knew can find you and say hello. "There are no loose ends in your life," as he put it.

On meeting former girlfriends at the reunion he said, "No Comment."

Then the chat got newsier.

On who'll win the U.S. election? He wouldn't make a prediction but did offer "It's the Democrats to lose," adding he figures Dems will win both Houses. And that it's "an interesting race."

As for next week's leaders' debates here, Harper told reporters that, yes, he and his staff do some "play-acting" to help him prepare, but not much. Apparently he doesn't like to over-rehearse his answers.

Being well-rested with lots of sleep beforehand, he says, is very important.

Harder in French

Unsurprisingly for an anglo, he says he finds the French debate the hardest. (Keep in mind, his main opponent this time, Stéphane Dion, is Quebecois.)

So how does he work on his French? In part, he says, by listening to RDI and sometimes TVA in the morning while getting dressed.

And speaking of news, Harper says he doesn't read, watch or listen to much of it (cut to looks of shock and disbelief on reporter faces). His move is to simply check the headlines ("The way the public sees it" he said, to get the gist of what's going on.) He does, however, also get briefed each day on what he needs to know.

In other words, he told the gathered crowd, he often doesn't even see what they've written about him.

"I've known so many politicians," he says, "that just get obsessed with their news coverage. I used to follow a lot more. Several years ago, I kind of went cold turkey."
— Paul Hunter