Mark Carney is on holidays. The government won't say where

Edmonton Journal

08-07-2025

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Prime Minister Mark Carney is retreating this week for vacation, but the federal government isn't saying where.
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All that has been revealed is that Carney is staying somewhere in the National Capital Region.
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'As he does so, he will remain in close coordination with his team and officials on several priorities, including ongoing negotiations on the economic and security relationship between Canada and the United States,' Carney's spokespeople told reporters in an email.
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Carney could be at Harrington Lake, the country retreat set aside for Canadian prime ministers in the picturesque Gatineau Hills north of Ottawa, or he could be at his personal cottage in the Val des Monts, Que., area.
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Harrington Lake sits on a 13-acre property. It has both the main cottage and a farmhouse and is used for regular visits and official functions. Since 2018, the National Capital Commission, which manages the property, has spent $8.7 million on renovations.
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The House of Commons has risen for the summer, but Canada remains engaged in tense negotiations with the United States surrounding trades and Carney, still in his first months in office, has been dealing with bullish premiers, including Alberta's Danielle Smith.
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The two bumped into each other at the Calgary Stampede this weekend and exchanged pleasantries after Carney tried — and failed — to fry and flip a beautiful flapjack.
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While the secrecy around Carney's vacation plans isn't unusual — in 2015, Canadians only found out where his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, was holidaying because the celebrity tabloid TMZ published photos — other nations' leaders regularly inform the public where they are.
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During the Trudeau years, extravagant vacations — and the concomitant secrecy — caused considerable controversy. Most notably, Mary Dawson, then Canada's ethics commissioner, found that Trudeau broke a number of rules when he vacationed on the private Bahamian island of the Aga Khan, the late Karim al-Husseini.
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Trudeau further courted controversy in 2021 when he vacationed in Tofino, B.C., with his family on the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation; his official itinerary had him listed as staying in Ottawa that day.