In the timeline we are apparently condemned to live in, everything is always about Donald Trump, even if it doesn't apparently involve Donald Trump.
This was perhaps especially true of Canada's new prime minister Mark Carney's first week in office; he had barely been sworn in before he left for his first foreign trip, to Paris and London. The subtext was: not Washington, or Mar-a-Lago.
It seemed to be a power move of sorts: asked when he would speak to Trump, Carney said that it would be at some "appropriate time."
Carney perhaps had in mind the visit his predecessor Justin Trudeau made to Mar-a-Lago after the U.S. election, which was followed by a trolling campaign on Trump's part in which he referred to "Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada." The meeting seemed to have triggered Trump's repeated calls for the annexation of Canada, which have continued.
"We can't control President Trump's behaviour. We can control our behaviour," said Kirsten Hillman, Canada's ambassador in Washington. "We can enter into these discussions and enter into this relationship from a position of confidence and strength."
Some 80 per cent of you approved of Carney's decision to head to Paris and London in an online poll this week. Exactly 3,800 readers participated.
Women were somewhat more likely to approve:
And there is a tight connection to age, with a 17-point spread between under-40s and over-70s:
There is little connection to income, other than for the highest bracket:
There is also a close connection to federal voting intention. Notably, however, 57 per cent of Conservatives say Carney made the right decision:
And there is a close relationship to views of Carney and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. This seems to be a tighter correlation than simple party preference:
There is also a close relationship to views on Russia and Ukraine:
Canada's relationship with the EU:
And to views of Trump, and Canada's relationship with the U.S. more broadly:
There is also a connection to Canadian hot-button culture wars, from gun control to cannabis: