Is the Prime Minister on Substack?

I asked five economists what they would say to Mark Carney.

Good evening everyone. Last night I sat in on a conversation about global trade at the Munk School and asked every panellist what they’d say in a one-minute voice note to our new Prime Minister.

It’s an important question, I think, because Canada decided to push aside the track record of the Liberal government to give Mark Carney a chance, but that means there will be absolutely no patience for side-stepping the top issues that drove voters to the polls: growing the economy while ‘dealing’ with Donald Trump’s tariffs (and tweets).

Here’s what they told me:

Joseph Steinberg: “Retaliatory tariffs are fruitless, don’t do it. There is so much low hanging fruit in terms of policies that would actually make Canada a better place to live. Leverage the crisis, and use it as an opportunity to the hard stuff.”

Margarida Duarte: “There is a deep productivity problem in Canada and this is also a unique opportunity to do something about that. I’d say to focus on policies that would lead to productivity growth.”

Mark Manger: “Our trade agreements with countries other than the U.S. always protect the same domestic groups. In telecommunications, I don’t think there’s a strong national security argument for having Bell, Rogers and Telus run this part of the world. The sky did not fall in the European Union when they liberalized telecommunications. It would also be very easy to improve trade with the European Union if we opened up the dairy market.”

Peter Morrow*: “Go over your notes from grad school… I think Canada should resist the temptation to go inward on nationalism. Buy Canadian, don’t buy U.S. But there are a lot of other countries out there.”

Shari Eli: “I’d express gratitude that we have a prime minister who understands everything we’ve just talked about. And if he sees this, come join us when we do this again. We’ll make room for one more chair.”

Mark Manger*: “There’s actually research in political science that shows countries elect economists, PhD-trained economists, when they’re in a crisis situation. Unfortunately there’s no evidence this increases economic power.”

*Tone note: Peter Morrow and Peter Manger were obviously making jokes here.

I will only continue to write about federal politics as long as is has a material impact on your day-to-day lives and I can do it in a way that doesn’t feel exhausting. Things will get lighter around here next week, including observations on currency fluctuations from celebrity stylist and global sourcing expert (I’m being 100% serious) Carly Stern.

If you have questions for her, you can submit them here.

NEWS:

• If you work hard one day you might make it on a list. It’s been over a decade since

  Maria Konnikova
  wrote about why our brains love lists for the New Yorker, but her analysis feels more true than ever: “In the current media environment, a list is perfectly designed for our brain. We are drawn to it intuitively, we process it more efficiently, and we retain it with little effort.” Every time a ranking like North America’s 50 Best Bars is released, conversations start and reservation books are filled. And the magic repeats every time. I think people will always love a good list, but more are coming onto the scene every year so we might start to get pickier.

  • I wonder if companies beyond media and hospitality will ever release ‘power’ lists or company rankings to please existing customers or suppliers, and strike up conversations with new ones. Does anyone do this?

• Signs that spring is here:

  • The cherry blossoms in High Park are about to reach peak bloom.

  • Rhubarb is back on the menu. Specifically at Florette, Alice Marie, and Emmer.

  • Stanley’s new line of picnic coolers is almost sold out.

  • Floating tiki bars are back on Lake Ontario. Bikes are coming to the island too.

  • The Leafs are absolutely blowing the 1st round.

• You have officially missed the deadline to submit a bid for Hudson’s Bay. If you’d still like to takeover a department store lease you have until tomorrow.

• I’m not personally ready for another Canada Post strike. It could happen if an agreement between the union representing workers and the postal service isn’t reached by May 22. Last year’s strike over the holidays was so damaging for the business that it’s hard to believe we’re back here again: Over 29 days, we saw 15 million parcel deliveries lost and an estimated $1.6 billion hit to small businesses.

• Expedition trips are the fastest-growing cruise category. Demand is up 71% in four years. 58% of cruise travellers are above 44, but that’s slowly changing.

atlasoceanvoyages

A post shared by @atlasoceanvoyages

• You do not need to wake up at 4 a.m. to be successful. 6 a.m. is fine.

• Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy has taken a stake in Toronto Tempo. She’s the second person to join the ownership group of Canada’s first WNBA team after Serena Willians and since Larry Tanenbaum bought the franchise for $115 million. The group is looking for 10 to 12 women as minority shareholders so you can expect more announcements like this ahead of the team’s debut season in 2026. Sephora is the team’s official beauty partner, and CIBC the official bank.

• A two-part docuseries about Alex Cooper is coming to Hulu. The series will “chart her rise to becoming the CEO of a media empire” which is definitely true as far as Call Her Daddy goes but a tougher sell when looking at the Unwell network, which in the last year has been running a playbook of signing on people with large followings and hoping they will blow up. It’s too early to tell whether that’ll work.

  • Alix Earle leaving is not a good sign, neither is a shaky drink launch, or the criticism that hosts Avery Woods and Hallie Batchelder are fielding online.

  • The Burnouts has potential to me (because of the caliber of the hosts) but launching it as a career survival guide doesn’t play to their strengths at all.

• If students under 18 could vote, they would have elected Pierre Poilievre. The Student Vote includes results from 5,900 schools and 900,793 “votes.”