Carney to restrict media access to his fundraisers, in a shift from Trudeau-era tradition

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Prime Minister Mark Carney will no longer open all of his speeches at fundraising events to the media in a break from the practice under the Justin Trudeau Liberal government.

Mr. Carney held an event in Edmonton Tuesday evening ahead of meetings with his MPs, but reporters from The Globe and Mail and Global News were turned away.

A volunteer at the event, who did not give their name, told the reporters fundraising events were no longer open to media, but a spokesperson from the Liberal Party said Wednesday it will be a case-by-case approach.

The spokesman, Matteo Rossi, did not say how the party would make that determination.

“While facilitation for media coverage varies between events, Liberal Party of Canada fundraising events are always fully in line with all of Elections Canada’s rules,” Mr. Rossi said in an e-mail.

Mr. Rossi pointed to a section of the Liberal Party’s website laying out commitments to transparency in fundraising.

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It includes “advance posting of events, timely reporting of event details, and ensuring registered lobbyists don’t attend ticketed events where they’re registered to lobby the relevant special guest.”

The Canada Elections Act requires political parties to publicly advertise fundraising events attended by prominent figures, and if a contribution of over $200 is required to attend.

A reporting regime for such events was also set up, requiring parties to list who attends each event.

The one Mr. Carney held in Edmonton on Tuesday is not yet listed on the registry, though it was publicized by the party ahead of time.

Edmonton MP and cabinet minister Eleanor Olszewski was also in attendance.

The event was held at the Last Modern event venue, with ticket prices starting at $900.

The reporting rules for political fundraisers were implemented after a series of revelations in The Globe and Mail in 2016 showing that then-prime-minister Justin Trudeau and senior cabinet members were raising millions of dollars through private fundraisers with tickets as high as $1,500 that gave donors access to cabinet outside of the glare of public scrutiny.

At the time, the Trudeau government committed to also allowing media access to fundraisers.

Mr. Trudeau opened up fundraisers he attended to the cameras. One of his final public speeches as prime minister was at a party for big-value donors in December, just two days after his then-finance-minister quit.