Prime Minister Mark Carney will briefly return to Parliament on Monday before jetting off to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
According to the Prime Minister’s updated itinerary, Carney is scheduled to attend Question Period at 2:15 p.m. on September 21 — the first sitting day after Parliament’s summer break — before departing for New York at 4 p.m.
The appearance comes amid scrutiny over Carney’s Question Period attendance.
A previous Juno News review found Carney had made 34 documented Question Period appearances since becoming prime minister while spending roughly 53 calendar days physically in Europe, including official trips, vacations and personal travel.
Those European days are not equivalent to missed Question Periods and include weekends, parliamentary recesses and other non-sitting days.
A Global News analysis previously found Carney attended 33 of the first 123 Question Periods of the current Parliament, or 26.8 per cent, compared with 51 appearances by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and 80 by Stephen Harper over comparable periods.
Carney subsequently appeared in Question Period on June 3, bringing Juno News’ documented tally to 34.
Monday’s scheduled appearance would bring that tally to 35, provided Carney attends as planned.
The Prime Minister’s Office previously announced Carney would travel to New York from September 21 to 23 for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly.
Carney will not address the General Assembly during the trip. Instead, senior government officials say he will meet with world and business leaders and participate in several UN events.
Government officials told CTV News that Carney will co-host an event with France and the United Kingdom focused on advancing a two-state solution in the Middle East.
He will also participate in an OceanEye International Alliance event alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, along with a roundtable on multilateral cooperation with European Council President António Costa and Kenyan President William Ruto.
“At a moment when the international order is being remade, Canada intends to help shape it,” Carney said ahead of the trip.
“At the General Assembly, we will sit down with partners old and new, defend the rules that protect our sovereignty, and turn co-operation into real opportunity for Canadian workers and businesses.”
Carney’s visit comes as U.S. President Donald Trump pulls back from several international institutions and tensions between Washington and Ottawa continue.
Trump recently described the prospect of Canada becoming an “associate member” of the European Union as a possible “hostile act” and threatened additional tariffs on Europe.
Despite those tensions, Canadian officials said no meetings between Carney and members of the U.S. administration were scheduled, though they noted Carney and Trump could cross paths at the sprawling UN gathering.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is expected to deliver Canada’s address to the General Assembly.
Carney has previously defended his Question Period attendance, saying he answers questions regularly and has confidence in his ministers, secretaries of state and parliamentary secretaries to respond in the House.
Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre has repeatedly criticized Carney’s attendance, accusing him of avoiding parliamentary scrutiny.
Monday’s scheduled appearance will mark Carney’s first Question Period of the fall sitting before he leaves Canada for another international trip.
Well, isn't that big of him? He's actually going to do the job that we pay him for for a couple of hours. How noble!
"Carney will not address the General Assembly during the trip. Instead, senior government officials say he will meet with world and business leaders and participate in several UN events." Later on in the article he says, "At the General Assembly, we will sit down with partners old and new, defend the rules that protect our sovereignty, and turn co-operation into real opportunity for Canadian workers and businesses". So which is it? Or, like a toddler, is Skid Marx just spewing the first thing that comes into his mind in order to get out of any conversation that doesn't involve a teleprompter?
Who is Carney waving to, besides his pet press corps?