OTTAWA – With trade talks between Canada and the United States at a standstill and U.S. President Donald Trump continuing his musings about making an all-North America U.S. territory, Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Europe with plans to pursue a “unique” transatlantic alliance.
His whirlwind visit – taking off Tuesday afternoon and returning to Ottawa Thursday evening – includes a major speech before the European Union (EU) Parliament in Strasbourg, France, as well as key facetime with other world leaders.
Calling Canada’s European allies “natural partners” in a release detailing the trip, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) noted the bonds of “shared history, values, and increasingly shared interests and ambitions.”
Those shared ambitions though, stop short of Canada becoming a full, or even associate member of the European Union, the prime minister has sought to make clear in the days leading up to the trip.
A senior government source speaking to CTV News on background in advance of the trip said that, despite some characterizations that pushing closer to Europe could compromise Canadian sovereignty, what Carney has in mind would do the exact opposite.
“There is a huge host of areas where we can work together. It’s an exciting time,” Carney said in an interview with Bloomberg on Monday.
Here’s what you need to know about why Carney is going now, who he plans to meet with, and why the visit – happening before Canadian Parliament resumes – matters.
Taking next step away from Trump’s America
It’s no surprise that the prime minister has been pushing a trade diversification agenda with eyes on Europe as a continent with clear potential, but events of the last few weeks have underscored for Carney and Canadians, as well as Europeans, the need to lock in.
Trump and his administration have been on the attack against Canada since trade talks collapsed late last month, resulting in a fresh exchange of punishing tariffs and the president reviving rhetoric about making this country the 51st U.S. state.
And last week, Trump posted a map showing the entirety of North America – as well as Greenland, Iceland, and French territories – blanketed in the American flag.
This insinuation of becoming a U.S. territory riled European leaders, who quickly pushed back, calling the post inappropriate and warning of the need to rein in the president’s perception that any type of territorial takeover is possible.
In a likely effort to affirm this directly, after Carney’s time in France and the U.K. this week, French President Emmanuel Macron will be meeting the prime minister in Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, the French islands off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador.
But first, Carney has scheduled facetime with top European leaders to take the next steps towards middle powers building what he described as “a new order that encompasses our values,” as he phrased it in his internationally feted speech in Davos.
“What Canada needs right now is … an alternative trade partner, an alternative security and defence partner, an alternative partner with which to promote its own digital sovereignty and maintain its regulatory autonomy. That’s what the EU can supply, and it can supply that with deeds rather than words,” said Tommaso Pavone, a professor of European politics at the University of Toronto.
“Europeans are also very keen to continue to draw on the vision that Carney has outlined for how the middle powers can navigate these turbulent times.”
It’s been widely reported in the lead up to this trip that this plan includes pursuing some form of new partnership with the EU, with leaders on both sides of the Atlantic describing a wide-spanning agreement.
“There are multiple examples of where this can go deeper,” Carney said Monday. “You could see elements of enhanced labour mobility … enhanced educational opportunities, enhanced research co-operation.
The federal government source said the ultimate objective of this trip is to deepen the alliance, particularly in three strategic sectors: trade, defence and people-to-people ties.
There’s also been indications the conversations include ways to integrate more when it comes to critical minerals, Arctic security, artificial intelligence and digital commerce.
“I think the challenge is how to move beyond an ambitious plan and partnership into something that is going to have significant, concrete and relatively immediate effects,” Pavone said.
This new venture would come on top of a series of existing economic pacts and collaboration agreements that see Canada treated as European.
These include two Carney has already ushered in: the EU Security and Defence Partnership to tackle common threats and improve readiness, and the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative that’s intended to unlock hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and market access for the Canadian defence sector.
Two speeches, one transatlantic message?
The details of such a deal, or at least the broad vision of it, is expected to be articulated in a pair of speeches happening inside the massive metal and glass structure that houses the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will deliver the annual state of the union, setting the priorities for the EU in the year ahead. She is also set to “share her vision and major initiatives for the year ahead, building on the EU’s achievements so far.”
Carney will be in attendance for that address, making him the first sitting head of government to be invited to attend the occasion, according to his office.
The senior government source told CTV News that Carney’s team is anticipating that in that address, von der Leyen will mention specifically the ambitions with Canada, framing it an expression of the degree of seriousness the EU is taking the relationship.
Then on Thursday, the prime minister has accepted European Parliament President Roberta Metsola’s invitation to address the same 27-member body.
The prime minister intends to use this platform – and the broader audience it provides the European public – to deliver his message about middle powers working together and how he sees the transatlantic alliance evolving to the benefit of people on both continents.
The source said that while Canadians may find the messaging similar to what Carney has been saying for some time, the stage on which he’ll be sharing that message is what matters.
Pavone said the reason why Europeans find the relationship with Canada “so interesting” is because they face similar challenges.
“They see the U.S. retreating from its security guarantees and its support of NATO. They’re seeing trade wars, they’re seeing pressure on their regulatory and digital sovereignty, they’re seeing a need to re-arm,” Pavone said.
“They’re seeing all of these things that they have in common with Canada, but Carney seems to be charting a different path from the one Europeans have taken. And so that’s why I think they’re looking at his at his moves with quite a bit of interest.”
In advance of the pair of speeches, Metsola announced that the EU Parliament is opening a satellite office in Ottawa, an effort her office said was to underline “the European Parliament’s commitment to deepening political dialogue and co-operation with Canada.”
“At a time when the world is becoming more unpredictable, like-minded partners need to work even more closely together. Europe and Canada share values, interests and a commitment to the same rules-based international order,” Metsola said.
“Our new presence in Ottawa will turn that partnership into even closer parliamentary co-operation – from transatlantic security and trade to the Arctic and all the challenges we face together.”
Carney to get facetime with U.K. PM, other leaders
Sandwiched between these speeches, will be an evening in England.
Carney has plans to meet with United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Liverpool on Wednesday night, where the men could take in some Carabao Cup action while discussing priorities for their relationship.
Known for working the phones with his European contacts – thanks to his tenure as governor of the Bank of England – Carney’s office has indicated the prime minister will also try to meet with additional European leaders as opportunities arise over the two days overseas.
One area where additional facetime could come in handy, would be seeing if any progress can be made on pushing the final 10 European countries holding out, to finally ratify the decade-old Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, known as CETA.
This example has recently been pointed to by those who caution Carney moving too many of Canada’s economic eggs into the European basket, given the glacial pace over movement and often disparate views of some EU member states.
Carney first signalled a more concerted effort to align with Europe in the immediate aftermath of Canada-U.S. trade talks breaking down, telling reporters last month that while negotiations south of the border stalled, he’d be entering into “intense discussions with the European Union, the world’s second-largest economy.”
“My sense is that the Trump administration would not look favourably on a closer Canada-EU relationship,” Pavone said.
Broadly speaking, the senior government source said the visit is about laying more groundwork or further tilling the soil of what’s already been set, ahead of hosting the Canada-EU Summit between Oct. 29-30 in Montreal.
Before that happens, Carney will have the opportunity to fill Canadians in more fulsomely – as he’s expected to be pressed by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to do – when Parliament resumes later this month.
The need to bring the country along on any potential major new deal is something one former Liberal foreign affairs minister agrees needs to happen, calling what’s been floated a “fairly arbitrary decision to make a position with Europe.”
“God forbid that I agree with Pierre Poilievre, but on this one case, in terms of the integrity of Parliament and the integrity of our own system, I think the government has to be accountable to the elected members and to the country generally,” said Lloyd Axeworthy. “I think here is a clear case where that’s being sort of bypassed, and I would hope that wiser heads will prevail.”
Though, as Carney indicated on the eve of his departure, any new pact is not going to be solved this week.
“Just to be clear, it’s the start of a process, but it’s a start of a high-ambition process,” the prime minister said.
