Rallies in Toronto, across Canada, challenge elements of Carney’s agenda

Protesters gather at Sankofa Square for the 'Draw the Line' protest on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.

Canadians in several major cities demonstrated Saturday against elements of the Liberal government’s agenda, including Prime Minister Mark Carney’s support for new fossil fuel projects and expected public service cuts. 

Hundreds who took part in “Draw the Line” protests in Toronto marched from downtown to the provincial legislature building, carrying signs that included messages advocating full immigration status for all, ending trade with Israel, Indigenous rights and a revolution against billionaires. 

Some signs featured images of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan in December. 

Speakers prior to the march included environmentalist David Suzuki, Grassy Narrows First Nation member Chrissy Isaacs, and others. 

Syed Hussan, executive director of the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, accused Carney’s government of “enriching billionaires” while Canada is on “the brink of a climate collapse.”

“We are here to say that whether it is climate, or economic justice, whether it’s Palestine or right here at home, we are facing a joint agenda and we will push back against it,” Hussan told the crowd. 

Speaking to reporters, Suzuki criticized Carney’s focus on creating jobs over addressing the climate crisis. 

“He’s putting the economy above the atmosphere that gives us air to breathe, that gives us weather, climate, and the seasons. That’s crazy,” Suzuki said. 

“Indigenous people tell us all the time the Earth is our mother. She gives birth to us. She nurtures us. She has got to be our highest priority,” Suzuki said, adding that climate change should be a larger priority than creating jobs. 

The protests, which occurred ahead of the federal government tabling its budget on Nov. 4, also included marches in Ottawa, Edmonton and Montreal. 

Canada has committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 40 to 45 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, but Carney has repealed the consumer carbon price and paused the Liberals’ electric vehicle mandate.

Currently, Canada’s emissions are about only 8.5 per cent below what they were in 2005, and Carney and his ministers have refused in recent weeks to say whether Canada is still committed to its 2030 and 2035 targets, though the government says it is still focused on hitting net-zero by 2050.

Carney has said he wants to make Canada “climate competitive” and has said his climate plan is forthcoming.

George Westel, who was at the Toronto protest and represented a group called Stop 413 East End Toronto, said everyone in Ontario is at risk of being hurt by the climate crisis. 

“Climate change is affecting migrant workers, it’s affecting Indigenous people,” he said after the group reached Queen’s Park. “This province is called a place to grow, and we are losing that place to growth.”

In Vancouver, hundreds of protesters listened to speeches outside a downtown library before marching several blocks. 

Mark Hancock, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, told the crowd that many people feel a sense of urgency on issues including skyrocketing housing and food costs. 

“New Canadians and migrant workers are worried about their future here in this country,” Hancock said. “We cannot allow this government or anybody to say that migrant workers are the problem. They’re not taking away our housing. They’re not jacking up the cost of living in this country. They’re just trying to make it like you and I and everybody else in this country.”

Carney said earlier this month that the government plans to return immigration rates to “sustainable levels,” which includes reducing the number of non-permanent residents to less than five per cent of the total population.

He said that adjusting the temporary foreign worker program to target specific sectors and needs in specific regions, as well as improving immigration policies, was tied to easing the strain on housing, public infrastructure and social services.

Many protesters in B.C. objected to the federal government fast-tracking liquefied natural gas expansion projects in B.C., which Vancouver resident Robert Hornsey said would result in the depletion of groundwater. 

“The LNG is a boondoggle. What you need to do is invest in renewable energy, wind, air, solar, tidal and thermal,” Hornsey said. “B.C. has a massive geothermal reservoir that it has not used or exploited.”

Another event attendee, Ann Grant, was holding her handmade big pink balloon printed with Carney’s face that read “killing the planet.”

By Daniel Johnson and Cassidy McMackon

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2025. 

-- with files from Nono Shen in Vancouver.