My love affair with Canada began well before Canada’s sovereignty was threatened, or I had a Canadian son-in-law and an Australian-Canadian grandson and daughter.

It began on a road trip, circa 1973, during one summer holiday from university with a girlfriend.

I visited with relatives in Toronto, who spoke as though they had just come from the shtetl, with heavy accents, showing me around, saying “Dis vay, darlink”.

But whether my heart was captured by them, the spectacular rugged scenery of the Canadian Rockies and my encounter with a handsome Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman, or the charm of Quebec, who can say?