It is not just disenchanted Democrats who are leaving the US and heading for Canada. The Canadian financial markets are in good health and US investment banks are taking advantage. Geoff Belsher, who opened Lehman Brothers' Toronto office in May, said the market for deals was "as robust as I have ever seen it".

Driven by a strong Canadian dollar, a healthy economy, easy access to capital, good corporate earnings and helped by a robust US dealmaking environment, mergers and acquisitions in Canada are close to record levels. According to Dealogic, Canadian companies had been involved in 725 M&A deals worth a total $112.5bn (€88.9bn) by July 26. This is the highest since 2000 when there were 833 deals worth $150.9bn over the same period.