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It was from the ice that Diana Fox caught the attention of a five-foot-nine-inch goalie on the Oxford men’s team, the future prime minister of Canada.

“Mark was watching an ice hockey game that Diana was playing in and he asked someone, ‘Who’s that person over there?’” longtime friend Laurie Thomson told the Star. “She was by far the best player on the team and he was impressed, I guess.”

In only a few years, Diana Fox and Mark Carney were married.

Three decades later, as Carney’s Liberals won听 Canada’s narrow, high-stakes federal election, his wife 鈥� now Diana Fox Carney 鈥� has been thrust into the spotlight. She has appeared alongside her husband on the campaign trail, door-knocked for him in his prospective Ottawa riding and occasionally introduced him at rallies. Fox Carney was not been as visible as Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s wife, Anaida, but she has made an impression just the same.

Out of the limelight, Fox Carney is an economist and environmentalist who has worked for a variety of consulting firms and progressive think tanks, and championed income equality.

But her husband’s entrance into Canadian politics is not her first time finding the public spotlight.听At times,听Fox Carney’s writings online have landed her in hot water. During听her husband’s time as governor of the Bank of England, a tabloid labelled her an “eco-warrior” and a British MP criticized her comments on housing in London.

鈥淪he鈥檚 a very warm, thoughtful, caring person,鈥� said Thomson, who has known Fox Carney for more than 30 years. 鈥淪he鈥檚 highly intelligent and cares deeply about many issues that affect all of us.鈥�

The Liberal campaign did not make Fox Carney available for an interview, although she recommended a friend to talk to for this story.

Meeting a future prime minister

Fox Carney grew up in rural England, the daughter of a pig farmer. She earned master鈥檚 degrees from the University of Oxford and the University of Pennsylvania, then returned to Oxford in the early 1990s to complete a third master鈥檚, according to her LinkedIn.

It was at Oxford that Fox Carney first started playing hockey.

鈥�(She) could run rings around everyone,鈥� teammate Nonie Dodwell told the Star. 鈥淪he was an excellent skater and player, very natural.鈥�

Records, in fact, show Fox Carney scored 10 of the team’s 15 goals in the 1991-92 season. In the 1992 varsity match against the University of Cambridge, she scored the game-winning goal to complete a hat trick.

Mark, meanwhile, was 鈥渧ery smiley and gracious,鈥� Dodwell remembers. One year, Mark played nine games and had a save percentage of .927, according to a stat sheet shared by Oxford hockey historian Michael Talbot. (At one point, Mark also co-captained the team with David Lametti, a future Liberal minister of justice.)

For their first date, Mark took Fox Carney out for a 鈥渧ery nice dinner,鈥� she recounted during a campaign speech. In the middle of the conversation, Mark stopped everything.

鈥淭here鈥檚 something you need to know,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 committed to move back to Canada and to work in the public service.鈥�

She realized two things in that moment, she said. The first: Mark was a man of unusual conviction.

The second: 鈥淧erhaps the romantic side might need a little bit of work.鈥�

Environmental work, including on the carbon tax

Fox Carney worked in Africa, including in Zanzibar, an archipelago off the coast of Tanzania. She did agricultural research, helping developing nations. It was overseas, according to a blog she ran in the early 2010s, that she saw the devastation from 鈥渙ur wilful refusal to change our consumerist habits.鈥�

鈥淪uch communities are fragile and profoundly vulnerable to even very small changes in temperature or rainfall,鈥� Fox Carney wrote. One of the best ways to help developing countries, she wrote, is to show leadership on environmental issues.

In April 2013, as vice-president of research at the progressive think tank Canada 2020, Fox Carney wrote a background paper on the carbon tax. She said the think tank鈥檚 goal was to 鈥渞eignite the debate on carbon pricing鈥� and 鈥渂egin building towards a plan with which all (or at least the majority) of Canadians identify.鈥�

Fox Carney has served on the board of several charities, including Save the Children. She鈥檚 been an advisory board member at, among others, a technology metals company and a growth equity fund investing in climate solutions.

And in 2021, she joined the Eurasia Group 鈥� a political research and consulting firm 鈥� as a senior adviser. There, she worked closely on climate issues with Gerald Butts, a former chief adviser and close friend of Justin Trudeau.

鈥淲hen I think of Diana, I think of someone who 鈥� cares deeply about the natural world and believes that it鈥檚 our responsibility to look after it for the benefit of our children and future generations,” Thomson said. “That drives a lot of what she does.鈥�

A blogger, gardener and athlete

The Carneys have raised four children.

Fox Carney has “devoted her life to her kids,” Thomson said, in addition to her work. She also loves gardening 鈥� she wrote on her blog of using a seed starter pot made entirely from cow manure 鈥� and ceramics. She creates small bowls and flowers for friends.

She’s also active. She kept playing in a weekly hockey game at the University of Ottawa until she left for England with Mark, Thomson said.听Dodwell, her former hockey teammate, has extended an invitation to Fox Carney to join her over-40 women鈥檚 hockey team at the Winter World Masters Games in Finland in 2028.

Fox Carney enjoys cross-country skiing, too. This year, she completed the Ottawa winterlude triathlon: eight kilometres of skating, five kilometres of running and six kilometres of skiing 鈥� all at -18 C.

She also regularly jogs with a neighbourhood women鈥檚 running group that began about a dozen years ago.

鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to keep up with her when we go,鈥� said Liz Muggah, a friend of Fox Carney鈥檚 for about 15 years.

From 2011 to 2014, Fox Carney ran a blog where she reviewed eco-friendly products. She lamented the “huge waste of water” from washing dishes with the tap running, wrote about combing hair being 鈥渢he highest form of torture鈥� for one of her kids, and recalled a story of burning her hand 鈥� and her friend鈥檚 tent 鈥� with a red-hot propane lamp.

And her husband, she wrote in one post, is 鈥渦sually a reluctant participant鈥� in family games, but loves a wooden board game called Pucket.

Her writings became a fascination of the British press when Carney became governor of the Bank of England in 2013. The Times wrote of Fox Carney’s endorsement of vegan shoes. The Guardian said she had “pleasingly edgy views.” In a year-end news quiz, the Daily Telegraph asked its readers: “Which of these eco-friendly companies was not endorsed by Diana Fox Carney 鈥� on her Eco Products That Work blog?” (The answer was C: “Fivers2Fuel, which turns obsolete paper banknotes into biofuel.”)

Fox Carney also drew backlash for tweeting out a story about the French president scaling back a proposal to raise taxes on the ultra-rich. “Maybe,” Fox Carney wrote, according to multiple reports, “I’ll be able to find a place to live in London after all.” Her husband’s job at the Bank of England came with a housing allowance of $7,682 per week, CBC reported at the time.

Asked by CBC in 2013 about the media attention, she said she’s been “doing this for awhile.”

“These are issues I care passionately about,” Fox Carney said. “In this day and age, people are OK with Mark and I being separate people. We have separate opinions and I think people accept that.”

“Though we are married, we are not entirely one.”

鈥楽he鈥檚 grown to love this country鈥�

On the campaign trail, they have appeared to be.

鈥�(Mark is) agile, he鈥檚 adaptable, he鈥檚 calm and cool under fire, and he鈥檚 able to draw on his incredible memory and a depth and breadth of experience, which really is second to none,” Fox Carney said while introducing the prime minister at a rally in Winnipeg. “Sometimes this can be a challenge when you鈥檙e trying to argue against him.鈥�

Fox Carney has enjoyed meeting people during the campaign, Thomson said, and seeing the diversity of Canada up close.

鈥淥ne of the things that has really attracted her to Canada is its abundance of natural beauty and its friendly, kind, generous, humble yet extremely capable people,鈥� Thomson said. 鈥淪he鈥檚 grown to love this country.鈥�