It was significant — and wise — that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first trip abroad was to the United Kingdom and France.
Rather than focusing on Washington, Canada’s next elected prime minister, whether Carney or Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, should continue thinking generationally about Canada’s economic and security partnerships with Britain and Europe.
America under President Trump is withdrawing from its postwar global leadership role, but Europe is moving in precisely the opposite direction. Europe is getting much more serious on geopolitical risk management and national security. Meanwhile, Canada needs a more diversified portfolio of strategic friends and assets following the close of Pax Americana.
Two huge opportunities have arisen that could boost Canadian defense capability in tandem with Europe’s.
According to the Financial Times, the European Union intends to bulk purchase weapons, opening procurement exclusively to EU defence contractors and “those from third countries that have signed defence agreements with the [EU].” Additionally, according to Bloomberg, major European pensions are — in the spirit of better late than never — reviewing their Environmental, Social and Governance or ESG policies to enable investment in defense industries once again.
The former initiative alone represents nearly $900 billion in demand signal for British and European defense industries — why shouldn’t Canada be considered?
Canada already has the core building blocks in place to present an ambitious plan for Euro-Atlantic defense production during future Europe-Canada discussions. Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada developed the Canada-European Union free trade deal, known as CETA. Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada launched a basic free trade agreement with the UK, with talks of expansion now back on the table.
As a next step, Canada could announce its intent to replicate our U.S. defense-industrial cooperation privileges with Britain and Europe, so that the EU and UK governments treat the Canadian ...
