Like you probably, I despair of politics today, and don't get me started on “democracy”. And yet some things I have experienced lately have surprised me and started to make me wonder if everything is not lost.

Item 1: Back in February of this year Donald Trump, just getting comfortable in the White House again, began proposing that Canada should become the United States' 51st state. At the time, Canadians were preparing for a federal election where the Conservatives were set to form a majority government [1] displacing Justin Trudeau, whom they had vilified relentlessly for years, in the Prime Minister's office. They were led by one Pierre Poilievre, Canada's answer to Donald Trump.