While the country grapples with escalating trade tensions, failed negotiations, and uncertainty on the global stage, Prime Minister Mark Carney was spotted Sunday gallivanting through the Vancouver Pride Parade with cameras in tow and controversy in full bloom.

Is that Mark Carney or Justin Trudeau at the Vancouver Pride Parade today?

Hard to tell with the synchronized virtue signalling. pic.twitter.com/IyILimnGAQ

— Drea Humphrey (@DreaHumphrey) August 3, 2025

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The August 3rd surprise appearance looked anything but spontaneous. Carney was all smiles as he marched a portion of the parade route, surrounded by security detail, select media and cameramen, just hours after a closed-door meeting with Premier David Eby and port officials.

But what seems to stand out the most about Carney’s photo op is the photo the mainstream media at large is hiding from the public.

That’s right. A now-viral image shows the prime minister gleefully embracing a nearly naked man wearing a pink g-string. The image invoked so much shock and disbelief online that many assumed it had to be AI-generated.

But it wasn’t.

“To all the dummies in my mentions citing @grok saying this is a fake or AI image, this is a real photo,” wrote Global News reporter Mackenzie Gray on X.

“It was shot by @c_helgren [Reuters photo editor Chris Helgren] and posted on Reuters Connect, which journalists worldwide use,” he added, posting a screenshot of the photo’s listing on the Reuters digital platform.

Despite the scandalous photos being authentic, Canada’s corporate media has been almost entirely silent. From what I could find when searching, not a single CBC, Global News, or CTV segment covering the PM's Pride stop has published the newsworthy moment or raised questions about how the unprofessional moment could impact credibility during a time when Carney is already facing scrutiny over failed trade negotiations with the U.S.

Shielding controversial photos of Carney is a familiar pattern in media. Ahead of the election, a photo of Mark Carney and his wife, Diana Fox Carney, standing closely with convicted sex trafficker and Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell circulated online.

Mark Carney is friends with Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficker.

He's friends with Epstein's client, Prince Andrew.
His wife's family is in Epstein's black book.

Why? pic.twitter.com/IJtJcn0PVi

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 27, 2025

Our Rebel News billboard truck even had an ad with the eyebrow-raising image on it while the truck circulated around the the federal debates, but do you think the legacy media gave it warranted coverage?

The majority of those that did cover it did so to dismiss it as “likely AI.” Yet, Carney himself never stated such, and neither did a source close to the PM, according to the Toronto Sun who, when asked about the image, told the publication:

“As a child, the woman you reference went to the same high school as Mr. Carney’s wife’s sister. While they have bumped into each other in public settings (including the 11-year-old photos you’ve sent), they are not friends.”

This year’s Vancouver Pride Parade, while still attended by thousands, was scaled down in comparison to previous years due to fewer sponsorships and tighter resources. Ahead of the event, The Vancouver Pride Society — organizers of the event — complained about the “unfair” cleaning and security costs.

The decrease in companies wanting to fund such an event is consistent with what’s been seen in other jurisdictions across North America, including Toronto's Pride festival, which had three of its six-figure sponsors also back out.

But nevertheless, never let a good virtue-signaling opportunity go to waste. Following in the footsteps of Justin Trudeau, who also made Pride Parade appearances, including in Vancouver last year, and one resulting in a controversial photo of him posing with a topless young woman at the 2014 Toronto Pride Parade, Carney, along with Liberal MPs Gregory Robertson, Ernie Klassen, and Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim, showed up to politically support the rainbow parade.

After making the Pride stop, Carney travelled to his own Liberal fundraiser event where, unlike the average Canadian, attendees could afford to pay $1,750-a-ticket to attend “An Evening With Mark Carney” to discuss “the next steps in our Liberal government’s work to build a better and stronger Canada.”