Chantal Hebert

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.

And then what happened happened and might have happened sooner had the pandemic not come in between.

So it's

It's been a good year for public confidence, for holding Canada together, for keeping the premiers on side, but it is dangerous to go from there to say, well, now I'm the master of this ship, and let's not look at all the storms on the horizon.

Let's just enjoy being masters of the ship.

I just wanted to say, yeah, sure, except the moment for most voters, the choices have not been made.

They're trying to see the choices the government makes.

It's one thing to say we're going to do all kinds of things, name them, show them, make those choices.

And when you make choices in this country, it's really hard not to create winners and losers.