What to know
It’s been exactly one year since Mark Carney became the prime minister of Canada.
Carney’s supporters say they have to be patient for his geopolitical efforts to bear fruit, while his critics say he has ballooned the national deficit.
Carney took office following the resignation of former PM Justin Trudeau with a landslide victory in the Liberal leadership race.
One year ago today, Mark Joseph Carney became the 24th prime minister of Canada. Now Toronto asked Canadians what they think of his performance so far.
One year ago today, Canada’s new government took office with a strong mandate for change.
We’re working with focus and ambition to build new trade partnerships, bring down your costs, and transform our economy — and we’re just getting started. 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/WCFxDRAStx
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) March 14, 2026
“I think he’s had a great start, and hopefully we’ll see the recovery come through,” Jal tells Now Toronto.
“The policies take time to kick in; it’s not something that happens over night. I think he’s doing really well on the global stage. … I think he has done well geopolitically to gain more allies.”
In the past 365 days, Carney has been quite the jetsetter, visiting 23 countries – France and the United Kingdom, United States, Italy and Vatican City, Brussels and the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, and Latvia, Mexico, Egypt, Malaysia, Singapore and Korea, United Arab Emirates, China and Switzerland, Qatar, India, Australia, and Japan, and Norway – on official itineraries to build new trade relations, strengthen existing ones, and increase defence cooperations.
While several commercial and policy agreements have come of his trips, Carney has yet to officially sign a trade agreement, which typically takes more time to bear fruit.
Leader of the Official Opposition Pierre Poilievre says Carney’s “just another Liberal,” listing seven reasons why the past year has not boded well for Canadians.
Happy 1st anniversary, Mark Carney!
-Deficit doubled
-Highest food inflation in the G7
-2nd highest unemployment in the G7
-No pipelines approved
-Homebuilding dropping 15%
-Immigration system still broken
-Violent crime skyrocketing in our major cities
A year later, illusion… pic.twitter.com/wOoaqLkFGW
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) March 14, 2026
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Norm, undecided on the prime minister as an individual politician, says the Liberal Party as a whole fell short in its dealing with the U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
“There’s a lot of things they could’ve done better with the United States,” he tells Now Toronto. “Obviously, Trump is a difficult guy to deal with but the U.S. is very important, too.”
To that, some say Carney’s doing the best he can.
“I think it’s obviously very hard economic times right now, and I think he’s doing the best he can out of anyone else who was in the running,” Catie tells Now Toronto.
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“Yes, there’s a little bit of a struggle, but that’s more of a global struggle with what’s happening around the world right now,“ Jal says.
One year ago today, Mark Joseph Carney became the 24th prime minister of Canada. Now Toronto asked Canadians what they think of his performance so far. Read more at nowtoronto.com
♬ original sound – Now Toronto
Carney’s fiscal policies help shape Canadians opinions of him
As cost of living weighs heavy on people’s minds, many of the criticisms against the prime minister are based on his fiscal policies.
“He hasn’t tried to reduce the size of government at all,” Ashley tells Now Toronto. “We’re just bloating our deficit even more.”
In September 2024, Carney was appointed the Chair of a Leader’s Task Force on Economic Growth under the Trudeau government. At the time, the Liberal Party said Carney would come up with new plans to grow and strengthen the country’s economy and “help the party shape a pragmatic, focused, and high-impact vision for Canada’s economic success.”
The Carney government’s Budget 2025, released this past November, outlined cuts to 16,000 federal public sector jobs in the upcoming three fiscal years. The fall budget raised concerns as it projected a $78.3 billion deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year – a marked increase from the $42 billion projected by the previous government’s budget.
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Canada’s involvement (or uninvolvement) in global conflict weigh in
Given the jaw-dropping deficit projected for this fiscal year, Canadians (rightfully so) are concerned about where their tax dollars go.
“If it was up to me, another $5 billion to Ukraine,” Adam tells Now Toronto sarcastically. “Empty my wallet, give him everything. I work for Carney, I want him to take my money and run with it.”
Just last month, the Ministry of National Defence pledged an additional $300 million to Canada’s pledge of $1.75 billion in support of Ukraine, raising the total pledge for the 2026-27 fiscal year to $2 billion.
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Also weighing on the minds of Canadians: the war in Iran.
“It’s good that he’s not joining the Iran-America fight,” Timi tells Now Toronto.
When asked whether Canada deciding to join the war in Iran would change his support for the prime minister, Timi says, “I think it would. … But I like that he’s taking a good stance right now.”
Patrick agrees.
“We cannot go to war, we cannot send any of our children to fight somebody else’s freaking war,” he tells Now Toronto. “With the Strait of Hormuz closed right now, the whole world is about to change and they don’t even know it.
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How Carney became Canada’s 24th prime minister
When former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned early January in the face of the tariff threats from the U.S., Carney entered the Liberal Party’s leadership race, winning by a landslide victory.
When he took office on March 14, 2025, Carney was the first prime minister in Canada’s history to have never held an elected office.
Amidst concerns about the stability of the Liberal Party, Carney triggered a snap election from which the Liberals maintained their minority government – with 169 seats.
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Since then, as by-elections came and went and MPs crossed the floor, the Liberals are now two seats shy of forming a majority government.
There are three by-elections coming up – two in Toronto and one in Terrebone, Quebec – which will determine whether the Liberals are able to secure a majority or remain with minority status.
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