Toronto residents got a surprise this week when Prime Minister Mark Carney visited a few local cafes while in the city. On Tuesday, patrons at a popular cafe in Little Italy might have spotted Canada’s prime minister sipping espresso on the patio.
Carney stopped at Cafe Belém, a Portuguese cafe and bakery at 546 College St. He was joined by Danielle Martin, the liberal candidate for University-Rosedale. The cafe’s staff shared on Instagram that the visit “was truly a change of our Monday routine. A wonderful change and it meant the world to all of us here at Cafe Belém.” Videos from the visit show Carney sipping on coffee, greeting staff and shaking hands with customers out on the patio and inside the bakery.
Since sharing the video, Cafe Belém had to disable comments due to some negative attention online, eventually adding to the caption: “We have no intention of making this post political, any negative comment will be deleted.”
Also this week, Carney made another stop in Scarborough, visiting Jatujak Thai Restaurant at 2386 Kingston Rd. with Doly Begum, the Liberal candidate for Scarborough Southwest. The resturant staff said the visit was a “once-in-a-lifetime moment” and thanked Carney and Begum for coming.
Both visits were part of his support for Liberal candidates ahead of the federal by-election on April 13.
Carney also joined Premier Doug Ford to announce a federal-provincial partnership to cut municipal housing development charges, with each government spending $4.4 billion on housing-related infrastructure over the next 10 years. Carney made the announcement alongside Ford and Mayor Olivia Chow, sharing that the deal would cut development charges in half for three years.
