‘What are you doing here?’: Carney makes first Stampede visit as prime minister

CALGARY — Canada’s new prime minister, better known for his business-like, bank-savvy demeanor, arrived at the Calgary Stampede on Friday night in a cowboy hat and toured the stables.

Mark Carney rode a tank, sampled food stations and took dozens of selfies during the hour-long visit, which took place in the middle of the rodeo grounds — his first visit to the Stampede as prime minister.

“We should see some wagon races, right?” he said as he walked through the Midway section, surrounded by security and cameras, sampling mini-donuts and pretzels.

Visiting the Stampede is a long-standing tradition for Canadian prime ministers, regardless of their political affiliation. Of course, the attendance hasn’t always been a given; former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, for example, skipped the festival last summer when his party was doing poorly in the polls.

But now, a year later, the political landscape has changed, and the Liberal Party, led by Carney, won a minority government in the recent federal election. While the Liberals were not expected to win in conservative provinces, including Alberta, they did win two seats in the House of Commons from Alberta.

Mark Carney arrived at the venue in navy jeans, a navy sport coat, and a cream cowboy hat, and was greeted warmly by the crowd; he shook hands with people and took photos with food vendors. Interestingly, he was not wearing cowboy boots or a cowboy belt, but brown sneakers and a skinny belt.

While walking in the Midway section, he said to a group of women:
“What are you doing here?”
And one of them shouted back:
“What are you doing here?”

Later, when Carney took to the stage for the wagon race at GMC Stadium, he was met with mixed reactions from the approximately 17,000 spectators — some cheered, some booed.

The race host responded by saying,

“They’re saying ‘woo!’ I heard ‘woo.’”

Carney is scheduled to attend a pancake breakfast Saturday morning and hold a fundraiser for his party in Calgary that evening.

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