Carney’s First Week as PM and the Conservatives’ Response

Then-Liberal Leadership candidate Mark Carney speaks with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre before a ceremony at the National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa on Jan 27, 2025. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Mark Carney’s first week as prime minister saw him taking trips to Europe and within Canada, cancel some unpopular Liberal policies, and make a series of policy announcements. Now it’s expected that he will call an election in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives have been adapting their messaging for the new Liberal leader, saying he’s copying some of their policies, and that his government is the same as the Trudeau government. They’re also raising conflict-of-interest and hidden agenda issues in relation to Carney, while advocating for their own vision of a prosperous Canada.

Carney’s First Week

Shortly after being sworn in on March 14 with a reduced cabinet—24 instead of Justin Trudeau’s 37—Carney’s first act as prime minister was to sign an order to bring the rate of the consumer carbon tax to zero, which he previously said had become too “divisive.” Polls have shown that Canadians had become increasingly opposed to the Liberal government’s carbon tax legislation, which the feds fought to keep in the courts as some provinces launched legal challenges.