Canada seeking 'unique alliance' with EU, not membership: Carney - National Post
Prime Minister Mark Carney on the the TIFF Tribute Awards red carpey Sunday night. Carney says Canada is not seeking to become a member of the European Union, as a Wall Street Journal report alleged. Photo by Cindy Ord /Getty ImagesArticle contentAfter a Wall Street Journal exclusive created a small firestorm of controversy on Sunday when it revealed Mark Carney has reportedly been racing towards making Canada an “associate member” of the European Union, the prime minister poured cold water on the idea later that day.
“Look, we’re not looking to become a member of the European Union,” he said on the red carpet of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Sunday night, per The Globe and Mail.
Rather, he said, Canada is starting talks with the EU about forming a “unique alliance.”
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“We share the same values, we have the same priorities and we have very complementary strengths,” he continued.
“We’re stronger together and this is at a time when the world’s more dangerous and divided and friends need to stick together at these times.”
The Journal article, citing unnamed officials on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, claimed Carney has been eyeing the EU and its “$21 trillion single market” since securing government in 2025.
The EU doesn’t technically have any “associate members,” but the concept reportedly being pitched, per the Journal, would allow Canada’s goods, services and workers in defence, energy, AI and critical minerals to move freely throughout the 27 EU states.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (C) holds a model TKMS (ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems) submarine as he poses with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (R) and Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre during a meeting on the sale of the German-Norway developed TKMS submarine to Canada on the sidelines of the 36th NATO Heads of State and Government Summit in Ankara, on July 7, 2026. Photo by MICHAEL KAPPELER /POOL/AFP via Getty ImagesArticle contentThey’ve also reportedly had discussions about trans-Atlantic sub-sea communications and energy corridors, new satellite networks that don’t involve U.S. tech giants, and potentially shipping Canadian fertilizer through a ice-breaker-cleared Northwest Passage.
The Journal also reported that Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron have discussed the possibility of Canadians living and working in EU member nations without requiring a visa, and that Carney wants access to an EU study-abroad program.
Sources indicate the concept is still in its bureaucratic infancy, but Carney has been clear with his officials that the result “will be the reorienting of an economy and a society that for half a century has been dominated by the U.S.”
Leader Pierre Poilievre added his voice to the chorus of Conservative voices who decried Carney’s reported moves and said Canadians deserve to know if their government is actually pursuing “associate membership.”
“If so, will European border policies apply in Canada, further overwhelming our immigration system while our youth can’t find homes? Will Canadian waitresses struggling with rent have to pay tax dollars to the bloated EU bureaucracy? Will Canadian small businesses be buried under the red tape of Eurocrats that have never met a Canadian entrepreneur,” he asked, noting he would ask these questions were it not for a shuttered Parliament.
Mark Carney could not be more out of touch.With Canadians missing meals and mortgage payments, and days before he addresses the European Parliament (instead of the Canadian Parliament) we learn in a foreign newspaper of secret talks to make Canada an "Associate Member" of the…
“And one more: who decides for Canada?”
