When my friend Val and I were celebrating our birthdays at the bar last night, Prime Minister Mark Carney was lighting up the rest of Halifax – -and Dartmouth too. His party fundraiser at the Marriott Hotel doubtless attracted many under 25s who could have easily gone to a watering hole downtown. Instead they parted with $925 for a “youth” ticket to the shindig tonight. The oldsters – over age 25– had to pony up $1775 for a ticket. Who’s got that kind of money? And if they have it, why would they want to spend it just to be in the same room as the Prime Minister?
Including last night’s event, the Prime Minister and various members of his cabinet are fanning out to eight Liberal fundraisers in the next eight days. But not all the tickets are as pricey as the ones for Carney. The Hon Julie Dabrusin (Minister of the Environment, Climate Change and Nature) is hosting her fundraiser in Hamilton, Ont; the cost of her tickets are a rockbottom $250. It costs $400 to attend the Hon Evan Solomon’s (Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation) fundraiser in downtown Toronto tonight.
Carney will speak at another fundraiser in Markham, in Ontario’s 905 belt, on Monday evening – again each ticket costs $1775.
Aside from the astonishing level of fundraising activity in the next week and probably weeks to come, it looks like some are betting on a general election happening sooner – not later. Everyone, not least Carney, is waiting to see the outcomes of three federal by-elections slated for mid-April. For the PM, at worst, two out of three ridings will go Liberal; the one in Quebec could go to the Bloc. But all three seats could go Liberal.
The Liberal wins may be the signal for Carney to call an election. Given the polling numbers, now may be the time to try to win a big majority. On the other hand, the Liberals may play it safe and try to govern with a bare majority. The problem with the bare majority is what if someone gets sick and can’t show up for an important vote?
The Tories are trying to rehabilitate Poilievre’s popularity as it has remained stubbornly low since September 2025 when his disapproval rate was 60% . Even after winning an 87.4% vote of confidence at the leadership review in January, only a minority of Canadians—33%– see him in a positive light. In each of the last six months, 58-60% of Canadians are persistent in their negative view of Poilievre.
And then there’s the NDP. Members will elect its new leader in two days. If frontrunner Heather McPherson wins, she is already a sitting MP. If Avi Lewis becomes leader, he has to win a seat in Parliament. The problem is that the Liberals seem to have a lock on seats in BC’s lower mainland where Lewis lives and wants to run. If Lewis becomes leader, maybe one of the 13 NDP MPs in BC would give up their seat for Lewis to run in a “safe” riding. No matter, the NDP is not ready for an election; the party will need time and money to rebuild to regain its “official party status”. An expensive election campaign would put them in more serious debt. And the campaign would test the new leader before they even get their gloves on.
For those of us who couldn’t make it to the Halifax Liberal party last night, let me review Carney’s record.
National Prayer Breakfast- Ottawa
On Tuesday, at the National Prayer Breakfast in Ottawa, his message was for leaders to be “humble” in their service to Canadians, and focus on their legacy. Wait? Isn’t the National Prayer Breakfast straight out of the American born-again Christians’ playbook? Yes, it was started in 1953 by evangelist leader Billy Graham. Clearly Canada’s version is more of a soft-serve variety of Christian faith; as one commenter wrote – is there a prayer breakfast for every faith and will the PM attend them all?
This week Carney bathed in the limelight of finally making good on Canada’s “obligation” to spend 2% of our GDP on NATO. The cost is $63.4 billion. Carney and the other war mongers congratulate one another as the photo below shows.
What does it mean to spend 2% of our GDP on NATO – being part of a club that is increasingly attacked by Pres. Trump, and yet a NATO that is relentlessly supportive of the US and Israel’s illegal wars and occupations.
What can $63 billion buy?
So just what else could the $63 billion earmarked for warmongering buy in Canada? It would buy from 96,000-100,000 newly built homes. $63 billion would also build more than 2600 four to seven storey apartment buildings housing perhaps a quarter of a million people. The average women’s shelter in Canada survives on revenues of $3 million a year—sometimes the government covers half the costs, but shelter supporters have to raise the rest. There are 600 women’s shelters across Canada. Diverting only $200 million from the NATO money would be enough to double each shelter’s revenue. In 2019 (the last date I could find) $17.1 billion was spent on mental health assistance of all kinds. Imagine, that amount could be doubled and there would still be $30 billion left to spend on universities, healthcare, schools and seniors.
Instead we shovel $63 billion that Carney has shaved from dozens of departments and councils, from the arts, the Canada Council, and social services to NATO. We’re doing this to stay in the club. This is the club of big boys that promote war.
Another ruined dinner party... 