If the friendship of the leaders could measure themselves by the quality of the gifts they offer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney should not have to be appreciated by other heads of government.
From the decorative teapot offered by the British Prime Minister to the Hermès tie chosen by the French president, the presents received by Mr. Carney since his post, in 2025, have nothing to envy to those which his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, normally received.
Prime Minister Carney declared in August to the office of the Commissioner for Conflicts of Interest and Ethics a whole series of gifts received at the Summit of the Group of Seven (G7) in Kananaskis, in June, or during related diplomatic events.
« A ball [un ballon] ! It is … fantastic, “said Mr. Carney, a smile split up to the ears, after having been handed over a decorative soccer ball from the hands the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, during their maintenance on the sidelines of the summit on June 17.
He turned around to clumsily deposit the heavy and bulky object on a coffee table, little avoiding a glass of water in front of the cameras. It is unlikely that the Prime Minister immediately revives this “indigenous decorative, hand -made” balloon “, tells us the federal gift register, since it was confiscated, like any present worth $ 1000 or more.
Mark Carney was able to keep most of the 26 gifts that his wife and have received since he became Prime Minister, which the law allows him when it comes to “a normal or usual brand of courtesy or protocol” linked to his functions. All presents of more than $ 200 should be declared.
A Trump hockey sweater
The catalog of gifts received by elected officials makes it possible to note that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, offered the Canadian Prime Minister a Washington capital hockey sweater shortly after having described him as “good gentleman”, during their bilateral meeting at the White House last May. The jersey, mounted and supervised, was personalized in his name and bears the number 24.
President Trump thus showed a little more generosity than at the Person Trudeau, to whom he offered in 2019 a copy of the book Hard (Roughing It) of author Mark Twain, and the previous year a group photo of a 1983 G7 summit in which his father participated, Pierre Elliott Trudeau. More gifts were offered during Joe Biden’s mandate, such as a pair of the former aviator glasses of the ex-president.
For his part, the wardrobe of Mark Carney was mainly enriched this year of sports jerseys, like a jersey of the Toronto Maple Leafs offered by the Prime Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, another of the Edmonton Oilers offered by the team, and finally a football jersey of the Roughriders of Saskatchewan, offered by the Prime Minister Province, Scott Moe.
Is it to blend into the bush? Carney also received during the G7 summit an Australian wool hat Akubra offered by the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, described by his manufacturer as “chic and luxurious Western”.
His spouse, Diana Fox Carney, can thank the husband of the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for the donation of a “very large” handbag the original folding of the Longchamp brand. The object of a value of $ 285 also made all the trip to Kananaskis.
Alcohols and trinkets
After being appointed Prime Minister of Canada, before being elected but in the middle of a trade conflict with the United States, Mark Carney made his first official trip to France and the United Kingdom this spring, to report the need for new economic partnerships.
And these two countries have very different visions of what constitutes an appropriate diplomatic gift for Mark Carney, show the compulsory statements to the Ethics Commissioner of Canada.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer believed good to offer nothing less than a crystal bowl which has a laser engraving representing his official residence of 10 rue Downing in London. For his own visit to Canada, he returned to the decoration department to offer a teapot and decorative cups – once again showing 10 rue Downing -, as well as a sculpture by Winston Churchill.
French president, Emmanuel Macron, rather offered Mark Carney a Hermès brand tie, and two bottles: one from Cognac (Mortell Cordon Bleu, sold at $ 234 at the SAQ), the other wine (Château Lynch-Bages 2014, sold about $ 275 in France).
“Politicians always say that gifts do not influence them, but it’s wrong!” Studies show that receiving small or big gifts influence decisions, “criticizes Duff Conacher, co -founder of the Democracy Organization in surveillance, which campaigns for the total prohibition of gifts to politicians.
He stresses that lobbyists in Canada are subject to an ethical code which prevents them from offering anything more than $ 40 to an official, for example, and the latter cannot receive more than $ 200 per year in gifts, in total. Mr. Conacher explains badly why, in diplomacy, there is no limit to the number of gifts of less than $ 1,000 that an elected official can bring home.
A large proportion of gifts cataloged by the federal register consists of goods offered by indigenous communities. The Minister of Public Security, Gary Anandasangaree, formerly to the crown-umployed relations, received no less than 14 covers as a gift during the year 2025 only.