Carney approval sits at 68%, 59% in Alberta

Canadians are in a serious mood; politics isn't a sport or a game

Sometimes people who are deeply involved in politics, whether keyboard warriors or those who run for - or staff - political offices can fall into a habit, one I’ve had myself at times, of thinking of politics like a game or sport. When you’re in that mindset, it’s easy to imagine everyone else is dialled in and treating it the same way.

If you’re a political reporter, you need news, and sometimes the easiest news to find is about political posturing, winning and losing strategies, errors and stumbles, the gaffes and the baiting.

But if you're just a regular person with a life to live that doesn’t revolve around politics. today is certainly pretty sobering. It’s no game.

• 91% think “Canada is facing more intense economic challenges than it has in many years.

• A majority (62%) feel “the amount of stress and worry in my life is overwhelming”. (Both data points from this past week, 3000 interviews nationwide)

With this backdrop, people think government is serious business, and they want politics to be serious too.

Not only will they not care about the standard issue social media skirmishing by politicians, they’ll be annoyed if they see a lot of it.

Equally, they’ll prefer politicians on Instagram to dial down the happy talk and social fun.

What do they want? Head down, do the work, try your best to find solutions, especially to the giant challenge facing much of the world, the second Presidency of Donald Trump.

Right now, two out of three people approve of the way the federal government of Mark Carney is handling its responsibilities. It sits at about the same level whether you are 25 or 65. It’s two thirds or more everywhere but in Alberta - but in Alberta federal approval sits at a remarkable 59% today.

Some think we are seeing an extended honeymoon (156 days so far). Others offer that Carney is almost out of time to show results, and Canadians’ patience will run out in the next month or two, unless (more affordable homes/a deal with Trump/shovels in the ground, pipeline approved, etc.) appear.

I suspect those analyses will be proven inaccurate.

I don’t think this looks like a honeymoon, because I think voting for Mark Carney was a choice people made that felt, and continues to feel, rational….not like infatuation.

My sense is that they will judge his values, instincts, effort and work ethic, all of which will carry more weight than when specific milestones are hit.

Canadians know how serious the challenge south of the 49th parallel has become. They want politicians to be less political, to conduct themselves in ways that reflect that this moment is unique, and is not just “a moment”

They want elected people to focus on the work, and put the game down.

For most people it’s not a question of ‘make magic happen for me right away’ - it’s closer ‘think it through, act with pace and determination, try to improve our position as best you can’.

Conservative politicians complain that Carney has ‘elbows down’, or has failed to get a deal by August 1st, or has not solved the mystery of how to convince Donald Trump that tariffs will hurt his own people - but voters seem inclined to tune this noise out.

When asked who would be the country’s best “choice to handle the tariff issues and the relationship with the United States”, it’s Carney 65% and Poilievre 35%. And has been pretty much the same split for a few months now. Voters will pay attention to Pierre Poilievre if he has a better idea, not a caustic meme.

In a way, our findings offer the same message for every party.

It’s a serious time. Focus on our priorities, not your political success. Voters don’t want to be distracted by small ball stuff. They won’t want to high-five government simply for doing the things it was elected to do. And they won’t show much patience or interest in opposition parties describing every day and every Carney choice a disaster for Canada.