With the House returning to action, the magical summer ride of Prime Minister Mark Carney is about to come to an end. New Democratic Party Leader Avi Lewis called it ‘Carneymania.’ And he was right. But the opposition parties have plenty of House days to dig in.
By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on September 28, 2026.
OTTAWA—The yin and the yang of Parliament is back.
With the House returning to action, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s magical summer ride is about to come to an end.
New Democratic Party Leader Avi Lewis called it “Carneymania.” And he is right.
The moves Carney has made internationally and domestically have made him currently the most popular prime minister in history.
The only previous leaders who’ve come close were former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney and former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien in their first terms.
In Mulroney’s case, his first election in 1984 gave him the largest number of seats in the history of Canadian politics. The only one who came close to his numbers was John Diefenbaker, who was elected by a smaller number but in percentage terms, a larger majority.
Both ended their political terms in a downward spiral. Diefenbaker was dumped by his own party in a midnight coup d’etat while Mulroney stepped down in the hopes that his departure might save his party’s skin.
Mulroney’s party elected a British Columbian woman, Kim Campbell, in the hopes the change of face would help in the declining trajectory.
It didn’t. Campbell ran a disastrous campaign, and the PCs were left with just two seats, their collapse resulting in the parliamentary birthing of the Reform Party caucus and the Bloc Québécois.
Reform secured 52 seats in the 1993 election, while the Bloc captured 54 seats, vaulting them to the status of official opposition.
That irony was not lost on anyone, since the historical moniker for that role at the time was “Her Majesty’s Official Opposition,” with the Bloc representing her majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
In the ebb and flow of politics, the role of the opposition becomes more omnipresent when the House of Commons is in session, as the opposition’s gets nearly as much media attention as the government’s.
When the House is not sitting, it is in the government’s hands to dictate the governance agenda. This past summer, Carney seemed to be everywhere. From Europe, to the Middle East, to Northern Canada, he peppered the world with his appearances.
In addition, his government introduced major initiatives, designed to fight the American-imposed tariffs, and built-up domestic infrastructure. “Canada Strong” was his elbows-up mantra, and there was not a single voice in the country that was able to galvanize opposition to his efforts.
In comparison, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre appeared weak and whiney. For the most part, the summer of 2026 was a Carney home run.
But now, the House has returned, and more questions will dominate the news.
On the first day, Sept. 21, it became clear the New Democrats would be fighting some of the elements of Carney’s “Canada Strong” strategy.
During the recent economic summit in Toronto, Brookfield, the Canadian Pension Plan fund, and CPP Investments launched a $50-billion fund for critical infrastructure and strategic domestic industries called the Maple Fund. Carney formerly served as head of investing at Brookfield Asset Management, and one objective of the Maple Fund is to target privatization of four major Canadian airports, including Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
The New Democrats moved an emergency debate motion on the issue, but it was not accepted by the House Speaker. Focus on the Maple Fund means that the airport privatization issue will be front and centre during the next parliamentary session.
Parliament sits an average of 135 days a year, which gives plenty of fodder for opposition parties to get their point of view to the public.
Compare that schedule to most provincial parliaments. In Ontario, the legislative assembly sat only 51 days last year. It is expected to sit a similar number this year, compared to a historical average of 84 days a year.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is in the news almost every day, and not having an active legislature allows him to pretty much dominate the bulk of the Ontario news. Ditto for Alberta which only sits for 54 days a year, a drop from the historical average of between 70 and 80 days.
When you compare Ontario’s and Alberta’s respective sitting times of 50-plus days a year, versus the federal work plan of 135 days a year, it is no wonder that the opposition in Ottawa can get the attention of the public far more directly and aggressively than in either of those provinces.
The fall session in the House of Commons promises to be a lively one. It may just put the blocks to Carneymania.
Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.