Between Trump’s trade war and an election, Carney undergoes baptism by fire

Mark Carney has decades of experience reading market tea leaves in buttoned-up office environments full of worsted suits and wealthy wonks.

By most measures, Mark Carney’s resume is stacked.

Chief of central banks for two G7 countries. Investment banker. International climate finance expert. An economics degree from Harvard University. A masters and a PhD in economics from Oxford.

He even has hockey on his list of accomplishments, having played as a backup goalie for Harvard during his years there. That’s a plus for a politician in a country that just last week changed the time of a national leaders’ debate so it didn’t conflict with a Montreal Canadiens game.

But the one thing his resume lacks is also arguably the biggest job he’s ever sought: politician.

Carney, who turned 60 in March and has never before held elected office, has had to learn a lot on the job at a rapid pace.

He joined the Liberal leadership race in mid-January, won it in a landslide on March 9 and became prime minister on March 14. By March 23, he was on the campaign trail.

Carney’s first-ever general election has turned into a crash-course in how to campaign and be a prime minster at the same time. He’s spent countless hours wandering unfamiliar shop floors, remembering where to look for the cameras and figuring out how not to be awkward when shaking hands with scores of strangers – even as he deals with a chaotic White House upending the global economy in the background.

The glad-handing part doesn’t always come easy to him.