29 August 2025

As the Felon-in-Chief (FIC) continues his ignorant and depraved assault on our good neighbors to the north, I have returned from the charming Niagara-on-the-Lake (that’s Lake Ontario, NOT the Lake of America) feeling more embarrassed than ever to be a citizen of what my late husband often called the Un-tied States.  My apologies to the Canadians I met on my trip were graciously, even generously met:  Steven, whom I encountered on the dog run of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Commons and told none of the dogs in view were mine, assured me these were “community dogs” to be enjoyed by all.  Well informed about U.S. politics, he inquired politely about New Hampshire’s “first-in-the-nation” primary status (“vexed,” I replied).  And he answered my lament of my government’s egregious abuses with an invitation to move.  “We are rich in land and resources.  What we lack is people.  Come join us!”

Like so many grieving the loss of the so deeply good Dolly Parton, even as the latest of the FIC’s atrocious, mendacious bullying replays on the news, I’ve been wondering what I could say about my travels at such a time.  I went back and re-read Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s powerfully eloquent speech delivered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on 20 January 2026—ironically the first anniversary of the FIC’s second inauguration.  So here I’ll juxtapose images of my delightful time in Ontario—the Falls!  The beautiful harbour!  The world-class theatre!  The vineyards!  The gardens!  The history!—with excerpts (direct quotations in bold) from a speech all Americans should take to heart, “Principled and Pragmatic:  Canada’s Path.” 

Early on, Carney quotes Thucydides [mind the gap between this world leader and our own FIC]:  “Every day we are reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry. That the rules-based order is fading. That the strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must.”  He goes on to reference Václav Havel’s 1978 essay “The Power of the Powerless,” calling performing the fiction of an international rules-based order “living within a lie.”

“Let me be direct: we are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. . . . You cannot ‘live within the lie’ of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination. . . .“

“Canadians know that our old, comfortable assumption that our geography and alliance memberships automatically conferred prosperity and security is no longer valid.

Our new approach rests on what Alexander Stubb has termed ‘values-based realism’ – or, to put it another way, we aim to be principled and pragmatic.

Principled in our commitment to fundamental values: sovereignty and territorial integrity, the prohibition of the use of force except when consistent with the UN Charter, respect for human rights.

Pragmatic in recognising that progress is often incremental, that interests diverge, that not every partner shares our values. We are engaging broadly, strategically, with open eyes. We actively take on the world as it is, not wait for a world we wish to be. . . .“

“Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. . . .“

“We should not allow the rise of hard power to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy, integrity, and rules will remain strong — if we choose to wield it together. . . .“

“The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.“

Prime Minister Carney concludes his lucid account of history now in the making:

“But from the fracture, we can build something better, stronger, and more just.

This is the task of the middle powers, who have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and the most to gain from a world of genuine cooperation.

The powerful have their power. But we have something too – the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home, and to act together.

That is Canada’s path. We choose it openly and confidently.

And it is a path wide open to any country willing to take it with us.”