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But Carney’s actions in office have less the sentiment of the schoolyard scrapper, and something a lot more like the quiet, deft technocrat. Less interested in securing the nation’s amour-propre, and instead more committed to simply getting the best deal possible out of an increasingly unstable American political situation.

And to be fair, this may be so!

“More than 85 per cent of Canada-U.S. trade is now tariff free,” Carney noted after the recent announcement that we would drop counter-tariffs on CUSMA-compliant imports from the U.S. Tariffs on certain items, including aluminum and auto parts, are holding. It’s also true that Canada had little choice but to fold; the U.S. and China have put a pause in their trade war, while the European Union has struck its own deal. An anti-American tariff strategy is only going to have any real effect if allies work together. But hand it to Trump, he’s been effective at picking us off and playing us against one another.

Plus, Trump is just very committed to tariffs. If the Americans can absorb the additional costs and Congress remains cowed, there’s not much for Carney to do, here. We also need to play the long game: the question for Canada is not whether we keep up a symbolic tariff in the immediate future, but rather how well we manage CUSMA’s renegotiation next year when the trade deal comes up for review. A little good will now might go a very long way when Americans head to the ballot box for the midterms, and the White House’s bandwidth is significantly thinner.

At least Trump is no longer making 51st state jokes, so perhaps we’re on track to some kind of normal — at least, the kind of normal in which the Americans remember to forget that we exist.

Meanwhile, If Canadians wish to maintain our resolve in the face of America’s increasingly aggressive and authoritarian moves, civil society is free to continue to act. Avoid American goods. Don’t fly to the U.S. for vacations.

The problem from a political point of view is that we’re left with few objective metrics by which to measure Carney’s success — or lack thereof. Did we secure the best possible deal? Against what counterfactual? Are we actually going to make progress building energy infrastructure that allows us to fuel allies like Germany? Are we judging the Liberals by real accomplishments? Or is it enough for Mark Carney to simply shift the vibe? More ties, less drama, sure, but, ultimately the same Liberal habit of mistaking announcements for results.

And if it’s all feels, then are these the frequencies we voted for? Did Canadians elect Carney to actually antagonize the Americans for the sake of national honour — or are we simply trusting him to be the most effective manager of an impossible relationship, and presuming that he’s done the best anybody can do regardless of how it all turns out?

Because I have to say, if it’s the latter, that’s giving Carney a very wide berth. If we’re not actually sure what we’re expecting this guy to do, then we’re giving him license to do just about anything — as long as he’s better than how we imagine Pierre Poilievre would have been in the same spot. No doubt, for many, that will be enough.