Aaron Wherry, CBC »

Speaking to reporters at the Canadian Embassy after a working lunch with the president and his team, Carney said the two sides had a “very constructive” and “wide-ranging” discussion. He said he was “heartened” by how “concrete” the conversation was.

But Carney also began his media availability by saying that, “really today marked the end of the beginning of a process of the United States and Canada redefining that relationship of working together.” In addition to underlining his central premise — that Canada’s old relationship with the US is “over” — this was a passing reference to something Winston Churchill said after the Second Battle of El Alamein, an allied victory that came when the Second World War was still three years away from being over.

In other words, there is a long way to go — and much more to figure out than could possibly be settled in a single afternoon at the White House.