political volte-face; and she had made the Time magazine list of the world's 100 most influential people.

But she only truly hit the public consciousness this summer when she was linked with Domi (right).

Clinton didn't count: who among the often-dowdy women in his life has not been romantically linked to the man whose carnal appetites are surpassed only by his love for a good jelly doughnut? Anyway, when the arch-conservative American commentator Ann Coulter revealed that Monica Lewinsky had compared Clinton's member to a "thumb", Bill's sexual mystery collapsed.

But a famous hockey player is quite a different thing in Canada. Still linked to Clinton - they have a global poverty date in Montreal next month - Stronach's love for Domi, one of the country's most beloved thugs, has made Canada wonder: what does the princess see in this toad?

The truth is, this well-groomed, aristocratic, dull-featured blonde has a sexual fixation on a goon who made an entire career of gloves-off pugnacity, before retiring last month. Suddenly the little yellow-haired girl is a different creature entirely - one whose desire lurks just below her ice. Despite Leanne Domi's grievance with her errant husband, Stronach says she is suffering from a double-standard: men get to bang bimbos - or 'puck bunnies' as we know them - with impunity, so what's her crime?

As all women know, powerful men are one thing, but physically powerful men are something else. Here is a woman who seems to be saying, with a hair-flip: "I do what I please, and I do it with ease." Not since the days of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's wayward wife Margaret has Canada enjoyed the performance of a true libertine, a girl who lives big and in the moment.

Belinda: The Private and Political Life of Belinda Stronach by Don Martin, Key Porter Books

Bill and Belinda's excellent adventure

Clinton was powerful - now he's rich