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Michael Higgins: Mark Carney's 7 biggest rookie mistakes

His first year has been marked by attitude, foreign misadventures and lowered elbows

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Prime Minister Mark Carney continues to enjoy an extended honeymoon with certain segments of the public with his popularity at near-record highs.

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This, despite having made some glaringly rookie mistakes since taking office a year ago.

Michael Higgins: Mark Carney's 7 biggest rookie mistakes Back to video

Some of those errors reveal more about the man — his irritability, the ethical blind spots, the occasional historical illiteracy, an air of superiority — than the politician.

What were some of his most egregious rookie mistakes?

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Carney swept to power on the back of his “elbows up” slogan, so it was inevitable that he would be accused of putting those same elbows down when his posture towards President Donald Trump and the U.S. became more defensive.

In March last year, the elbows were decidedly elevated, but by August, they had been lowered as the prime minister dropped retaliatory tariffs on a slew of American goods.

Trump’s tariffs have hit Canada hard. Auto manufacturing fell 5.4 per cent year on year, according to a TD Economics report. Exports to the U.S. tumbled by 5.8 per cent last year, according to the Financial Post; real gross domestic product expanded by a measly 1.7 per cent and manufacturing shrank by 2.6 per cent.

The economic pain being felt in Canada cannot all be laid at Carney’s door. But........

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