Expat vote: Polite form of nationalism brings left and right together

The unfailing politeness of Canadians is recognised the world over, but expats living in the UK, readying postal ballots for today's elections, were in no mood for niceties.

- Kate McCusker

"If you mess with Canadians, we'll hit back," said Sarah Helppi, a 44-year-old from Toronto turned Londoner, who had just posted her ballot for what she called the most important Canadian vote in her lifetime.

For Helppi, hitting back against Donald Trump's import tariffs and threats to annex what he called the "51st state" meant casting a postal vote in Canada for the first time in the 12 years she has lived in the UK.

"I feel united with the Canadian people in trying to find their way out of this," she said. "We want someone to make the hard decisions about how to re-engineer the economy away from the US, and to me that person is Carney."