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One senior Liberal source, speaking about internal deliberations on condition they weren’t named, told the Star on Friday that Carney has someone in mind to appoint as chief of staff in the Prime Minister’s Office, and that the decision could come by early next week. Two other sources said it is unclear if the current chief of staff, former Liberal MP and cabinet minister Marco Mendicino, will remain in the job.聽

Once the top staffer has been named, lingering questions about who will fill key roles in Carney’s PMO will then be clarified, the senior Liberal source said.聽

The source added that the staffing process is taking “a bit” longer than usual, but pointed to how Carney had to travel to the United States capital for his first meeting with Trump this week, as the U.S. president continues with trade tariffs and his expressed desire to annex Canada.聽

“There will be an attempt to calibrate” between experienced MPs who have been in cabinet before and the “obvious freshness that is needed at the moment,” the senior Liberal source said, adding that Carney could name 29 or 30 cabinet ministers next week.聽

Goldy Hyder, head of the Business Council of Canada, said in an interview from Washington that he has told the PMO about the business community’s need to see big changes in cabinet, including in key portfolios dealing with cross-border trade, energy and business development.

鈥淭here’s a fatigue here. The Americans have not been shy about telling us that, so we’ve related that there’s a desire to see new faces,” Hyder said.

鈥淎nd on our part too, to be honest, if I see the same faces 鈥� then it tells me that you weren’t serious about building things in this country.鈥�

Other stakeholders have preferences, too. In Toronto, some housing advocates and industry insiders are concerned that Carney could replace local MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith as housing minister. That would mean the federal government would have its fourth housing minister over the past two years. Mark Richardson, founder of the advocacy group HousingNowTO, said replacing Erskine-Smith could slow down much-needed efforts to expand affordable housing, with Carney promising to scale up housing construction rapidly with his new mandate in power.聽

“This constant churn of ministerial responsibility means that you’re constantly retraining a new set of staffers who come along with a new minister,” said Richardson.

Another from LGBTQ+ activists聽is for Carney to name a minister responsible for women and gender equality, a Trudeau-era role that was not included in Carney’s pre-election cabinet.聽

Beyond the politics of cabinetmaking are the politics of a minority Parliament. Short of the majority many Liberals expected in the final days of the election campaign, Carney’s government will need opposition parties to help pass legislation, approve spending, and stay in power without triggering another national vote. This week, Bloc Qu茅b茅cois Leader Yves-Fran莽ois Blanchet said his party is in no rush to topple the government, while Conservative parliamentary leader Andrew Scheer has suggested the Tories could support measures to help navigate the trade war with the U.S. The NDP, reduced to just seven MPs, has said it wants progress on affordable housing and expanding public health care, among other things.聽

At the same time, some Liberal MPs have spoken to opposition members about crossing the floor, but so far none of those talks have turned into anything serious, said the senior Liberal source.聽

“Those are normal conversations,” the source said, adding that, at three seats shy of 172 in the Commons, “it would only take a few to push it towards a Liberal majority.”聽

NDP interim leader Don Davies told the Star on Friday that he doesn’t expect any of his MPs to join the Liberals, while Green MP Elizabeth May said earlier this week she would “never cross the floor.”聽