Chantal Hebert

I don't think anything will be resolved by then, but we are working against

some kind of a summer deadline.

I think we feel collectively a bit more in control than we did a year ago, where there was this sense that we were going to be pushed and eventually crushed against the wall and ultimately powerless to do very much about it.

I saw that Angus Reid poll this week that showed public confidence really high, despite the absence of progress and the fact that the opposition parties, rightly so in their role, have been pointing out that there has been

very little actual progress on the trade file over the past year.

Despite that, high level of confidence that we will arrive at some solution, as opposed to a high level of fear that everything is going to break down, that Canada is broken, the relationship is broken.

But I also think

It matters what happened over the past year to Mark Carney.

When people voted a year ago, it was a leap of faith.

Here was someone from the business community, whether the credentials were great, who was totally untested in the political arena, but looked like the best option on offer at that point.

There was a question, I think, looming in the back of the minds of many Canadians, and it was, what if this is Paul Martin?

A talented person who does great in the business world would be a good finance minister, but once he is in that top-level position, ends up looking like a deer caught in the headlights.

I think a year later, no Canadian believes that Mark Carney is Paul Martin with all his virtues and failings.

And to me, this end of year, a year later, is the end of the transition period for Mark Carney from where he came from to being the politician that he is.

But I will add to that that it is fragile.

And it doesn't only inch on what happens on the Canada-US trade front.

It is dangerous.

And I spent much of the week in Ottawa, and I thought, you know, this isn't a 25-seat majority here that you guys have, and you're acting as if you're in triumph.

I met some senior liberals who told me that they are reminding people who were around when Justin Trudeau was prime minister

The Justin to those approval ratings were sky high after a year in office.