But this week he was back, injecting himself into the final days of our federal election campaign. Asked in the Oval Office about auto tariffs on Canada, Trump hesitated for a moment, acknowledging that he really shouldn’t interfere in another country’s election. But then he was off.

The auto tariffs could go up, he said. Or maybe not. He dredged up his old canard about the U.S. “subsidizing” Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year – a claim that has been debunked over and over. He didn’t actually repeat his “51st state” taunt, but he might as well have. If Canada didn’t trade with the U.S., he said, “as (Justin) Trudeau told me, they would cease to exist – which is true, certainly, as a country…. But I have to be honest, as a state it works great.” And on and on.

But now Trump is back, leaving no doubt that his obsession with Canada is still very much alive and whoever emerges as PM next week will be facing a threat like no other Canadian leader has faced in modern times.

Frankly, it’s good that Trump stuck his nose back in. Canadians need to stay angry at the American betrayal, because that’s what it is. There’s a natural temptation to hope the threat will fade and we can go back to something like business as usual. But it’s not going to happen, and if we need frequent reminders of that to keep up our determination to do the hard things that will be necessary to resist, then so be it.