Prime Minister Mark Carney has spent roughly 53 calendar days in Europe since taking office, including vacations and personal travel, compared with just 34 documented Question Period appearances, a Juno News review found.
Juno News reviewed Prime Minister’s Office itineraries and publicly reported travel dates from Carney’s swearing-in on March 14, 2025, through his latest trip to France and the United Kingdom in September 2026.
The tally counts days Carney was physically in Europe, including official and personal travel, rather than simply the dates attached to official trips.
Carney spent two days in France and the U.K. in March 2025; two in Italy in May; four in Belgium and the Netherlands in June; four in Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Latvia in August; and three in the U.K. in September.
In 2026, he spent two days in France in January; three in Switzerland; five in Germany in February; and ten in Norway, the U.K. and Italy in March, including personal vacation time. He then spent six days in France and Ireland in June, roughly eight vacation days in Italy in August, and two days in France and the U.K. in September.
Juno News calculates Carney has spent roughly 53 calendar days physically in Europe. The figure is an estimate because exact arrival and departure times for his private August trip were not publicly released.
Meanwhile, Carney has attended Question Period less frequently than his two immediate predecessors over comparable periods.
A Global News analysis of House of Commons records found Carney attended just 33 of the first 123 Question Periods in this Parliament — just 26.8% — compared with 51 appearances for former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and 80 for former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Carney subsequently appeared in Question Period on June 3, bringing his documented total to 34.
Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre has repeatedly attacked Carney over his limited appearances in the House.
During a May 26 exchange captured by Juno News, Poilievre criticized Carney for remaining seated while other ministers answered questions.
“He won’t get out of his chair,” Poilievre said, prompting Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia to intervene.
Poilievre then called Carney “very fragile” and said he was “not used to taking any difficult questions.”
Amid questions over Canada’s economic performance, Poilievre also accused Carney of avoiding parliamentary scrutiny.
“Question period, where normally prime ministers go to answer, especially in a moment of crisis… you’d expect him to be accountable… but he’s not showing up,” Poilievre told reporters.
Statistics Canada initially reported real GDP contracted 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2025 and was unchanged in the first quarter of 2026. First-quarter growth has since been revised to 0.1 per cent, while GDP grew 0.8 per cent in the second quarter.
On one occasion in June, Carney was roughly 20 minutes from Parliament at a housing development in his Ottawa-area riding during Question Period and did not take reporters’ questions, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
When questioned about his attendance on April 22, Carney defended his approach.
“I answer questions all the time,” Carney said, adding that he believed in his “ministers, secretaries of state, parliamentary secretaries responding.”
Carney has defended his broader economic strategy as an effort to build a “stronger, more resilient, more independent” economy while pursuing deeper economic and diplomatic relationships with European allies.
The roughly 53 European days include weekends, recesses, vacations and days when the House wasn’t sitting.
Carney has still spent roughly 19 more days in Europe than he’s made Question Period appearances.