Prime Minister Mark Carney and Bonhomme Carnaval raise their legs together in a traditional carnival kick at the Citadelle in Quebec City on Jan. 22.Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press

Although Prime Minister Mark Carney has largely dispensed with the obligatory hugs that became standard protocol under his predecessor, there was one embrace he could not resist during a stop in Quebec City last week.

Outside of the Governor-General’s second official residence at the Citadelle, the 19th-century fortress built to defend the city from invaders, Mr. Carney indulged in an uncharacteristically playful hug with Bonhomme Carnaval, even nestling his face against the mascot’s chest.

When he arrived in Quebec City, Mr. Carney was still riding a post-Davos high. His speech two days earlier before the World Economic Forum in Switzerland had won him international acclaim as the de facto leader of the anti-Trump resistance. His photo-op with Bonhomme, which quickly went viral in Quebec, was the cérise sur le sundae after upstaging the European elite at the WEF.

Alas, had he limited his local activities to hugging cuddly snow figures, the Prime Minister might not have had to skip town early and cancel a news conference he had scheduled for the end of a two-day cabinet retreat. Instead, Mr. Carney chose to make a speech that drew near unanimous condemnation in Quebec.

After his homer in Davos,........

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