PM’s wife Diana Fox Carney hits the ice to open women’s-only rink in Nova Scotia

Diana Fox Carney, the usually low-profile wife of Prime Minister Mark Carney, not only attended the opening of a women’s-only hockey rink in Sydney, Nova Scotia on Tuesday — she strapped on her skates and tested it out.

The cause was close to Fox Carney’s heart, as a former player “known for her ability to skate rings around her opponents and move effortlessly through the opposing defensive line,” while she was a member of the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club. 

The 60-year-old appeared at the Cape Breton University (CBU) arena on Tuesday dressed in hockey gear, complete with the university’s women’s team jersey that read “Capers” diagonally across the front in red and black letters.

Fox Carney was tasked with officially dropping the puck in a matchup game between Sweden and Switzerland, said MP Mike Kelloway in a Facebook post about the event, held at The Kehoe Forum. It is the first arena dedicated to women’s and girl’s hockey, the university said in a statement.

“This is more than a rink — it’s a statement about equity, opportunity, and the growth of women’s sport in Canada and beyond,” Kelloway wrote.

Fox Carney echoed the MP’s sentiments.

“I learned to play hockey in the U.K. where our practice times were 1 a.m. to 2 a.m., and we never imagined that we could get mainstream practice times,” Fox Carney said, according to a university news release .

“It’s great the way that CBU has championed the rights of female athletes. I think the Kehoe Forum is fantastic in terms of prioritizing women and making a point that women’s hockey is just as important as men’s.”

Kelloway also posted photos from the event, including a picture of himself posing with Fox Carney alongside the university’s president, David Dingwall.

Dingwall was previously a Cabinet Member for Jean Chrétien. He faced criticism over purportedly high expenses while he was the head of the Royal Canadian Mint in 2005 and eventually stepped down. Notably, he told a parliamentary committee meeting that discussed the expenses and his pension that he was “entitled to his entitlements.”

Also in attendance on Tuesday were members of the Cape Breton Blizzard Female Hockey Association, for girls between the ages of five and 18. Fox Carney was photographed speaking to the girls on the ice and played a scrimmage game with them, Cape Breton Post reported .

She called the rink “fantastic” and shared that it’s been 13 years since she played.

“I’m tempted to go back, but sometimes I think I’m vulnerable to be injured, let’s put it that way, but I do miss it, and I miss it more when I play it,” she said, per the publication.

Fox Carney appeared alongside her husband while he was on the campaign trail; however, she has largely stayed out of the spotlight since Carney became prime minister in March 2025. Her career has focused on sustainability, climate finance and investing, according to her LinkedIn page. She shares four children with Carney.

One of her more recent public appearances, aside from the Nova Scotia hockey rink, was last month with Carney at the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw in Washington, D.C. She was also by Carney’s side during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on Nov. 11.

In September, she addressed the 80th United Nations General Assembly, “stressing the importance of the international mission to secure the return of Ukrainian children unlawfully deported by Russia,” according to the Embassy of Ukraine .

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