Prime Minister Mark Carney landed in Poland on Saturday, kicking off a broader mission to deepen financial and safety ties with European allies.
The prime minister departed Ottawa within the early morning hours for a European journey that may embrace stops in Warsaw, Berlin and Riga, Latvia.
It’s his fourth journey to Europe since taking workplace in March, as he strikes to align Canada nearer with Europe whereas the connection sours with the USA beneath President Donald Trump.
Carney stated on Friday that Pure Assets Minister Tim Hodgson, Defence Minister David McGuinty and Trade Minister Mélanie Joly will be part of him on the tour.
Simply days after being sworn in final winter, he flew to France and the UK, the place he referred to as Canada the “most European of non-European nations.” Squeezing within the go to simply earlier than he referred to as an election, Carney met with French President Emmanuel Macron, King Charles and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer all in the identical day.
In Could he travelled to Rome for the inauguration mass for Pope Leo XIV, and conferences with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
In June he travelled to Brussels the place he signed a brand new defence and safety cope with the European Union. The settlement paves the best way for Canada to take part within the huge Re-Arm Europe initiative, strengthening ties within the defence trade and shifting Canada away from such heavy reliance on the U.S.
He additionally attended the NATO leaders’ summit within the Netherlands.
A senior authorities official informed reporters forward of the journey that bringing Canada nearer to Europe is a “high precedence” for the Carney authorities.
The journey is to broadly deal with serving to to diversify Canada’s commerce prospects with current allies amid the USA’ ongoing world tariff marketing campaign, in addition to deepening defence and safety pacts, the official stated.
Whereas in Poland, Carney is predicted to satisfy with Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki.
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The senior official stated advancing commerce talks in power, defence and aerospace, amongst different industries, can be a precedence in Poland, as is assist for Ukraine.
Poland is a key transit hub for army help for Ukraine.
Since 2015, Canada has educated 45,000 Ukrainian troops through Operation Unifier. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a lot of that coaching has taken place in Poland.
Marcin Gabrys, chair of Canadian Research at Jagiellonian College in Krakow, stated Poland has “very strong foundations” in its relations with Canada, and desires extra co-operation in sectors corresponding to nuclear expertise, with each international locations singing an settlement in January for tasks like small modular reactors.
“There are a number of alternatives by way of financial co-operation,” he stated, together with in mining and demanding minerals, and ties by way of Poland’s giant diaspora in Canada.
Canada’s reserves of essential minerals are additionally anticipated to be a major focus of Carney’s talks with officers and enterprise leaders in Germany.
Carney is scheduled to satisfy with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday.
Carney stated Friday that he’s trying to bolster Canada’s current partnership with Germany.
“There’s a broad vary of areas, from essential minerals to power and defence and safety, the place we’re intensifying our discussions with Germany,” he informed reporters.
Germany is Canada’s largest export market in Europe and the 2 have collectively pledged $600 million to export Canadian hydrogen to Europe, by way of an settlement signed in August 2022.
Canada has not had an envoy in Berlin because the dying of former B.C. politician John Horgan in November 2023.
Carney is predicted to wrap up the journey by assembly Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa on Wednesday and paying a go to to Canadian troops stationed within the nation.
Since 2017, Canada has led a multinational NATO battle group in Latvia as a part of the efforts by the army alliance to strengthen its japanese flank and reply to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Latvian mission is one in every of eight battle teams established by NATO in japanese Europe in what some confer with as a “tripwire” to forestall Moscow from invading.
The primary 4 — in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland — have been arrange in 2017, three years after Russia’s first Ukrainian invasion in Crimea. After the broader 2022 Russian invasion, battle teams have been additionally established in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.
In Riga, Operation Reassurance consists of personnel from greater than a dozen NATO international locations and is lower than 300 kilometres from the Russian border.
The senior official stated 1,900 members of the Canadian Armed Forces are stationed in Latvia, the Canadian Armed Forces’ largest abroad mission.
Marcus Kolga, a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, stated the mission is essential for Canada.
“It’s most likely one of the necessary worldwide missions that we’ve been engaged in because the liberation of the Netherlands in World Conflict II,” he stated.
“It permits them to go on dwelling their lives usually, despite the fact that that risk is true at their doorstep,” he stated, including this is applicable to Latvians in addition to neighbouring Estonians and Lithuanians.
“It demonstrates that Canada is energetic and it received’t be pushed round by Vladimir Putin,” he stated.
The journey to Europe comes towards a backdrop of intensifying efforts to dealer a peace in Ukraine’s battle with Russia. Earlier this month, Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, adopted just a few days later by a gathering with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and different European leaders on the White Home.
Canada is a member of the Coalition of the Keen, a bunch of member states pledged to assist Ukraine within the battle towards Russia. Carney has attended digital conferences of the group in current weeks, however there are not any confirmations but about what position Canada will play to assist preserve peace if a ceasefire deal is reached.
— with recordsdata from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa
