TORONTO – The tolerance of Canadians for members of the Press and Media who demand “a free pass” from responsible assessments when discussing issue beyond the immediate proximity of the lint in their navel never ceases to amaze me. Paul Martin might still be Prime Minister had his campaign strategists in the election of 2005-06 not dismissed Opposition concerns in respect of costs in the budget update as amounting to “beer and popcorn”.
On National TV, 2025-04-22, when asked if the Prime Minister should interrupt his campaign to attend Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday, along with the other 170 heads of State and Government around the world, one of the co-authors of that famous statement said (and I paraphrase), “there are no votes in Vatican City”.
Were there more votes at play the day prime Minister Carney flew off to visit Emmanuel Macron (France), Prime Minister Starmer (Britain) and King Charles – just after he was installed as PM to demonstrate his readiness to get to work? Who did the counting on his behalf?
Statistics Canada says about 21% of Canadians claim Catholicism as their religion, their moral code. If the number seems smaller than in the past, that would be a relative assessment – immigration over the last ten years has added approximately six million non-Catholic immigrants to our population – good people. The absolute number of Catholics is till about eleven million. Some of them might notice who attends the funeral and who does not.
Canada is the only Western Nation whose head of Government could not afford the twenty-four hours to make a presence. Everyone else will make the effort. It is a matter of respect for the deceased head of the biggest group “believers” in any religion in the world.
Imagine this: within hours of the Vatican’s completion of preparation for the exhibition of his remains, a line-up of mourners (measured in time needed to pay respects) extended beyond eight hours. Vatican authorities expect no less than 200,000 to attend the funeral in St. Peter’s Square (SPSQ) on Saturday. It is probably an underestimate. SPSQ easily accommodates that on a light day.
Over Six million “mourners invaded” Rome when the Church had a funeral for John Paul II in 2005. Two million found their way from far away Poland.
President Trump, not a Catholic and subject of a world of political hurt, will be there. Other leaders from the G-7, G-20, Central and South America, Europea Union, Africa, the Muslim world and other countries south of the Equator in the Pacific and the Far East, will also be there.
Brilliant strategists have apparently counselled Mr. Carney not to go. The Prime Minister of Canada, is so far ahead in this election, according to the polls, that he may well reach the moon before the spacecraft can deliver the “beer and popcorn”, will not attend.
In the pics above, clockwise from left: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, newly appointed, visits Keir Starmer, King Charles and Emmanuel Macron in the space of 24 hours (photo from Twitter X – @MarkJCarney)
