Midsommar

Lessons from the first half-year of Carneyism

Look up. Photo: PW

1. Man in Motion

I guess the Senate and the Governor General didn’t feel like stopping Mark Carney just yet. Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy: An Act to enact the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act and the Building Canada Act, went through those two obstacles faster than it takes to read the new law’s title. With its passage and the arrival of Parliament’s summer break, Carney caps a good half-year run.

It’s 167 days since Carney told Jon Stewart he was an “outsider” who’d “just started thinking” about running for a leadership role in Canadian politics. He thought fast, and announced his candidacy three days later. Now he’s been prime minister for longer than Charles Tupper and John Turner were. How’s he doing?