Last week, Mark Carney was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, giving global leaders a lesson in realism. His powerful speech about the end of the old order and the need for middle powers to unite in the face of fractured international norms received a standing ovation.

The economist and central banker struck a slightly different tone at a gala in Ottawa to promote the Canadian film industry on Thursday evening. Appearing on the red carpet with the Canadian actor Hudson Williams, star of the hit HBO ice hockey drama Heated Rivalry, Carney was in a playful mood.

Williams gave Carney a fleece adorned with maple leaves that appears on the show, and as they stood side by side posing for the cameras Carney said: “Do the leg thing.” Williams did the leg thing with the prime minister. Both men grinned widely.

In a speech later at the event, in which he called Hudson his “new best friend”, Carney said studios “south of the border” wanted to tone down the content of Heated Rivalry. “What is the point of that?” he said, to laughs in the audience. The show tells the story of two closeted ice hockey rivals who fall heavily in lust.

Carney said Heated Rivalry could only be made in Canada, a country that “celebrates what makes us different”.

Carney said of the two main characters in the show: “They’re also two young men who are terrified of being their fullest selves. And we live in an increasingly dangerous, divided and intolerant world and the hard-fought rights of the 2SLGBTQI+ community are under threat.”

He went on to joke that he was responsible for the success of the show, despite not being in power when it was approved for funding.

“I’m a politician, I’m not above taking credit for the Canadian funding that helped you share this story with the world,” Carney said. “I greenlit this thing. I stood up to the Americans.”