John Ivison: Carney’s reputation is holding up better outside of Canada than in

It is an almost immutable law of politics that as a leader’s reputation flourishes abroad, it deteriorates at home.

In the last week of summer, Prime Minister Mark Carney won plaudits for his trip to Ukraine to help celebrate that beleaguered nation’s independence day. He was the only world leader in Kyiv and his message that Canada will always stand in solidarity with Ukraine was well-received.

“(Russian President Vladimir) Putin can be stopped,” he said. “Russia’s economy is weakening. He is becoming more isolated and our alliance is hardening … When peace comes, we cannot simply trust and verify, we must deter and fortify — deter Russia from thinking it can ever again threaten Ukraine and Europe’s freedom.”

The trip was hailed in Europe. On their popular The Rest is Politics p