Lead Public Affairs Counsellor Andrea Sarkic spoke to The Hill Times about the election campaign so far.

Former Conservative staffer Andrea Sarkic, a public affairs counsellor for Compass Rose Group, told The Hill Times that she agreed that Carney has transitioned effectively into the role of decision-maker, and has used his time wisely.

However, while Sarkic said she neither agrees nor feels completely comfortable with most of the decisions the prime minister has made in such a short time, the ones she is more comfortable with are those that feel conservatively familiar.

“It feels as though he’s just constantly either following up or echoing something that Poilievre has said, but just writing it out in red cursive font instead,” Sarkic said, pointing to Carney’s moves on the carbon tax and GST, as well as his trip to Nunavut shadowing Poilievre’s.

Additionally, while she concedes Carney has gotten some wins during that short period—whether by necessity or intention—most have been easy victories.

While Carney’s meetings with Macron, Starmer, and Akeeagok were successful, Sarkic also noted they were selected as providing the lowest risk of a communication or diplomatic snafu. Yet, while Carney hasn’t signalled he is in any rush to meet with Trump and can now point to the ongoing election to further delay the meeting, that also came with a risk, Sarkic said.

“Canadian polls suggest that most Canadians think he’d [Carney] be better equipped to take on Trump than Poilievre,” Sarkic explained. “By avoiding the meeting, he’s avoiding the risk Trump could make a mockery of him, but if that’s the narrative that forms, it’s terrible optics if Carney wants to maintain that faith Canadians have in him at this point.”

To that end, if Carney isn’t confident in his ability to face Trump unscathed, that doesn’t provide much faith he would be able to face Poilievre in a televised debate, especially given his performance fending off pointed questions from reporters on his asset disclosures, Sarkic said.