When the new Minister of Democratic Institutions, Karina Gould (No, this is not fake news -- the Trudeau Liberals still do have a minister tasked with democratic institutions) released her mandate letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau it read: 

"A clear preference for a new electoral system, let alone a consensus, has not emerged. Furthermore, without a clear preference or a clear question, a referendum would not be in Canada's interest. Changing the electoral system will not be in your mandate."

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Hmmm… The venerable Economist magazine's research arm yesterday booted the United States off its list of "full democracies," demoting Ronald Reagan's "shining city on a hill" to a mere "flawed democracy."

This happened in the wake of the election of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States. However, the impeccably right-wing British magazine's Economist Intelligence Unit generously concluded, it was not because of it.

That is to say, the researchers for the pretentious news magazine for people who wish they were rich didn't blame the decline in American democracy on Trump. They blamed Trump on the decline in American democracy.

It would be an irony if the troubles the United States has visited on much of the earth were now visited upon the United States -- and, lest you’re feeling smug about that possibility, it's not likely to be a happy irony if you happen to be a citizen of that country's next-door neighbour.

Still, filmmaker Michael Moore probably has it right when he predicts Donald Trump will not serve out his full term as president.