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Gone are the days of Mark Carney as UN Special Envoy on Climate Action and Finance in which he extolled the virtues of carbon pricing as a market-based solution to emission reductions. Instead, we are in the Mark Carney-as-PM days, in which his government remains noncommittal regarding Canada鈥檚 climate targets and will potentially push through infrastructure projects without adequate environmental assessment or Indigenous consultation.

Carney鈥檚 decision to take Canada back to the pre-Trudeau status quo of not being a reliable environmental partner on the world stage is unlikely to hurt him with voters outside of the progressive flank; Liberal voters who voted for Carney erroneously assumed Carney would carry on with progressive environmental policies.

But it鈥檚 his mismatched rhetoric and actions when it comes to the U.S. carries much more of a risk for our rookie PM.

Any protectionist U.S. administration flexing its economic strength would be a challenge for Canada. But Trump represents a unique problem. He is an erratic president untethered from basic political norms with a penchant for openly admiring dictators and authoritarian strongmen.

That may well be part of why just this past spring: 鈥淭he old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperations is over.鈥�

This of course makes sense, given everything that has transpired since Trump was elected. But the proposed separation or resistance is very obviously not what is actually happening.

Consider how information sharing with American law enforcement will work if the Carney government鈥檚 Strong Borders Act, or bill C-2, passes this legislative session. According to the University of Toronto鈥檚 , 鈥渄ata and surveillance powers in Bill C-2 read like they could have been drafted by U.S. officials,鈥� further noting that the breadth of warrantless information sharing covered under the bill has many potential issues: 鈥� 鈥� the provision would open the door to information sharing with law enforcement authorities in states like Mississippi, Idaho, or Tennessee, by compelling warrantless access to information about whether a person has obtained services from an abortion clinic in Canada.鈥�

The public criticism of bill C-2 has thus far been somewhat muted. But it鈥檚 not hard to envision a world where voters start asking exactly where in the information-sharing process with U.S. law enforcement should one鈥檚 elbows be held up 鈥� is it before or after information has been shared about a woman accessing reproductive health services?

At a time when progressives need leaders who are true to their values and will fight for them, Canada finds itself with a technocratic prime minister who seems more than willing to pre-emptively wave a white flag than have to fight for what鈥檚 right.

But the one thing that can kill the career of any politician, irrespective of partisan stripe, is when voters sense even the slightest bit of inauthenticity. For now, Carney and his government have been able to benefit from his tough talk on the US, coupled with the sense that the prime minister is a no-nonsense kind of guy that is true to his word. However, if the government鈥檚 action continues to diverge from its stated rhetoric 鈥� like continuing to to people actively working to erode democratic norms 鈥� voters will come for the government. Perhaps even with their elbows up.