Unfortunately, there may not be a hockey analogy for the challenge Canada faces

Inevitably, but torturously, this unique moment in the history of this country has come to be understood primarily in hockey terms.

"His elbows have mysteriously gone missing," Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said of Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday. "He's not thrown one elbow since he took office."

A few hours earlier, a reporter had warned the prime minister that his critics might say something like that in the wake of his decision to repeal some of Canada's retaliatory tariffs against American products — that while Carney had once spoken of Canada putting its elbows "up," now those elbows might be said to be down.

"There is a time in a game, in a big game — and this is a big game — when you go hard in the corners with your elbows up. There's a time in the game when you