That title has been in my head since about Monday, when Mark was speaking to investors in Toronto. Trying to bring foreign investment into Canada and staying rather mum about how much profit and economic activity would actually flow out of the country. This was the Mark Carney who seemed ready to sell us out, although he would never say that, and he probably doesn’t even believe that. Those of us who are cynical and deeply distrustful of big money might feel differently. On Monday, I was ready to write about how, a good year and a half later, Mark Carney was finally making good on my worry that he would screw us over.

But that was Monday, or so. Now it’s Thursday, and Mark has probably gone several days without sleep, at least his face and straying hair would indicate as he addressed the European Parliament this morning. Going without sleep would seem to make logical sense. He was at TIFF on Sunday, Toronto early in the week, in the UK and France. The body does need to recover. You do need to shut down at least for a little bit, and maybe this week Mark couldn’t quite pull it together.

No one believes we will actually join the EU, not only because it’s not being proposed, and not only because it’s basically impossible to make the argument we are a European country. But because it would seem antithetical to the sovereignty argument. No one wants our laws to be primarily drafted in Brussels, when the whole point of this exercise would seem to be distancing ourselves from a bully who’s taken us for granted for so long.

No one believes it, but the formality of the exercise had the right effect. Ursula von der Leyen proposing in a prepared statement in front of elected officials that Canada become the EU’s first “associate member,” whatever that means, and Carney making his own formal speech proposing stronger ties, together showed the world that we’re serious about this. Note to America: “We are never, ever, getting back together.” We know you’ve had a whole lot to deal with, given your current administration and its dismantling of all you hold dear on all fronts. We’re sympathetic. But our sovereignty is agenda item #1 for us; even if it’s floating somewhere on the back pages for you. Bye, bye.

My own perception of the U.S. commentators who discussed von der Leyen’s proposal was that they were, on the whole, sad and embarrassed. They didn’t say so outright. But it was like a stark realization that this is where we’ve come to. The daily grind of the president flooding the zone with one outrage after another has meant it’s a whirlwind and a game of whack-a-mole, and all you could do is keep up, keep pace, keep track. Canada saying fuck you – for real – and the EU saying, “we’ll take you in” might be the first time anyone has been forced to take a breath and say, “oh shit. Things have changed. This dictator we elected…. he fucked things up. And we’re not going back. We should have stopped him when we had the chance.”

We wish you had. At least for Mark’s sake, because he could have been getting more sleep.

As for that investment summit, let’s leave that for another day. Because my sense is that the Mark Carney I was worried about will rear his tousled head again soon enough. Because we’re not getting rid of our beloved Mark, at least not yet. And we shouldn’t; he’s our warrior, our soldier, our leader. But we have to question where he’s taking us, since there’s no going back for us, either.