Prime Minister Mark Carney marches in Montreal's St. Patrick's Day parade celebration

Thousands of people lined the streets of Montreal to celebrate St. Patrick's Day for its 200th edition.

The streets of downtown Montreal turned green like clockwork on Sunday as its annual St. Patrick’s Day parade celebrated its 200th anniversary with the country’s new prime minister present.

Mark Carney marched in Montreal’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, his first public event since being sworn in on Friday.

Carney was joined by several Quebec-based cabinet ministers as he shook hands and waved to thousands gathered along the parade route in the downtown core.

He walked the entire route of more than two kilometres along De Maisonneuve Boulevard, often veering off into the crowd to shake hands and snap photos.

Carney was among dozens of local, provincial and federal politicians to take part. Many cheered for him and chanted “Canada!” as he walked the route. Carney, who also celebrated his 60th birthday, was serenaded by some revellers in the crowd with a boisterous Happy Birthday.

Organized by the United Irish Societies of Montreal, nearly 120 groups were part of the festivities and 3,000 people were expected to participate, up from about 90 groups and 2,500 participants last year.

“Everybody’s Irish today,” said Lauren Tracey, a spokeswoman for the organization. “We know that upwards of 40 per cent of Quebecers have Irish heritage, so I think it’s just a matter of showing how diverse we are as a community, how we all come together as a community for this event and how important that is.”

Organizers said the first parade was held in 1824 and has seldom been cancelled, most recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

The prime minister’s presence among the floats, dancers, bands, musicians and paradegoers decked out in St-Patrick’s green was last minute.

“He was only sworn in on Friday so this isn’t something that we knew very early, but everybody’s been great and we’re really happy that he’s showing his support and his participating makes us very proud,” Tracey said.

Among those in the crowd, Allison Morris said she brings her kids every year to celebrate their Irish roots.

“It’s just it’s a community, you know, everybody comes together for one thing, everybody’s happy, everybody’s here to celebrate the same thing, no worries, no issues,” she said.

Edwin McCarthy is from Nevada but said he likes to go somewhere different every year for St. Patrick’s Day.

“So we decided Montreal this year,” McCarthy said. “I just love it because it’s celebrating Irish culture, so it’s celebrating part of my heritage.”

A parade was also held Sunday in Toronto, beginning at noon on the corner of St. George and Bloor St. West, featuring live entertainment and local dignitaries.

Treasury Board of Ontario president and Francophone Affairs Minister Caroline Mulroney served as the grand marshal of the Toronto parade.

Event organizers noted her father, late former prime minister Brian Mulroney, was an active member of Montreal’s Irish community and served as the grand marshal of that city’s St. Patrick’s Parade in 1980.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 16, 2025.

— with files from Coralie Laplante in Montreal and Sammy Hudes in Toronto.

Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press