Mark Carney became Prime Minister on a promise to reduce Canadian dependence on the increasingly protectionist and unreliable United States under Donald Trump.

“It’s clear the U.S. is no longer a reliable partner,” Mr. Carney said after taking office. “The old relationship” Canada had with the United States, he said, is over.

Significant parts of his travel reflect this, with the theme set right from the top: a trip to Paris, London and Iqaluit just days after he was sworn in as Prime Minster, three stops chosen deliberately to reinforce Canada’s sovereignty as he prepared for an election campaign that was centred around reorienting Canada away from the U.S.

He visited the White House shortly after winning the election and has met Mr. Trump several times since in the U.S. and at meetings elsewhere. Mr. Carney has also attended gatherings of world leaders and visited Ukraine to reinforce his government’s support of the war-torn country. He went to places such as South Korea and the United Arab Emirates to attempt to bolster trade relationships and drum up investment.

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At home, he hosted the G7 leaders in Alberta and met with premiers to discuss the response to the U.S. trade war. He went to hard-hit regions to announce tariff relief, and signed a new energy accord with Alberta.

Fen Hampson, a senior Carleton University professor of international affairs, said Mr. Carney has been a “merchant in a prime minister’s suit” trying to drum up foreign investment and business as the U.S. continually increases trade barriers.

“He is not so much a jet-setter as a trade representative with frequent-flier status who understands that the selling of Canada to the rest of the world – when we are being shut out of our principal market – must be led by the Prime Minister,” Prof. Hampson said.

“Carney’s challenge now is to get the provinces and Canadian business to follow his lead.”

Mr. Carney’s domestic travel – upward of 40 stops – echoed his foreign trips as he sought to rally Canadians to build, develop and invest in the name of economic growth.

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The Globe and Mail reviewed a list of everywhere Mr. Carney has gone – at home and abroad – since he was sworn in last March.

“Prime ministers don’t end up anywhere by accident, and in this case, we’re seeing quite deliberate decisions being taken by Mr. Carney’s operations team,” said Marci Surkes, who was executive director of policy and cabinet affairs for Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government and is now managing director of the strategic firm Compass Rose.

As prime minister, Mr. Trudeau would go to child-care centres or community events to feed off the energy of those crowds and illustrate his government’s people-centred policy, Ms. Surkes said.

Mr. Carney instead goes to chambers of commerce and boardrooms.

“That sort of crowd that he finds himself in tells the story, both overtly in terms of his communication with business leaders, but also subliminally that business leadership is where he spends his time and energy,” she said.

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But it’s not without domestic politics in mind, Ms. Surkes pointed out. To have a Liberal prime minister go to Calgary and get a standing ovation, as he did for the new energy accord with Alberta, is significant.

“It’s a political flex for a Liberal to show up in downtown Calgary and say this is not necessarily conservative territory only,” she said.

When The Globe asked Mr. Carney’s office for a list of his trips, it included stops he made in his riding – even though it is just several minutes by car from Parliament Hill.

Ms. Surkes said that’s notable because it shows his team is aware he has to be seen spending time as the local MP, a lesson they may be taking from his rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre. He lost his own seat in the spring election, and wound up running again in a by-election in a different riding.

“It matters not whether you’re the prime minister or the leader of the Official Opposition in our Westminster style of government, at the end of the day, you are still a member of Parliament,” she said.

“And you are only a member of Parliament for as long as your constituents and community believe that you are their best possible representative.”

As Mr. Carney’s team plans his travels elsewhere inside the country, they’re riffing off an old Police song from the 1980s – every move he makes, someone is watching, Ms. Surkes said.

That means that policy announcements get made in key industrial centres, that Mr. Carney takes care to set foot in different ridings and, at least some of the time, does campaign-style events.

Mr. Carney’s business focus also means a different approach to Parliament than his predecessor, most notably that he’s not in Question Period as regularly as Mr. Trudeau was.

Ms. Surkes said that heading into the new year, she doesn’t expect that to change. Canadians, she said, are in the mood for a leader who is outside of Parliament selling the country.

“The mood may shift at some point, but until or unless there is a strong feeling that the Leader of the Opposition’s line of questioning matters insofar as what Canadians are expecting out of Mr. Carney, I don’t foresee any real change or shift in terms of where he’s scheduling his time,” she said.

The Prime Minister’s travel schedule for 2026 is yet to be revealed. The Globe has reported a trip to China could be in the cards. Domestically, he’s expected to hold a cabinet retreat outside Ottawa ahead of the winter session of Parliament, which begins on Jan. 26.