Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Carney says Canada seeking 'unique alliance' with EU, not membership

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Carney says Canada seeking 'unique alliance' with EU, not membership · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So as Prime Minister Mark Carney hosts his investment summit
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: in Toronto, there are also some new questions ahead of
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: his trip to Europe this week. Carney is travelling to
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  Speaker 1: France to address the European Parliament. And Canada will also
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: be hosting a joint summit with the EU in late October.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: And all of that has some people asking what exactly
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Carney's aspirations are. So let's get more on that from
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  Speaker 1: the CBC's Janice McGregor. In Ottawa, hello Janice. So this
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: came to a head over the weekend because of some
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  Speaker 1: reporting that suggested the Prime Minister's goal is an associate
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  Speaker 1: membership in the EU. But the Prime Minister is saying
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  Speaker 1: that's not the case.
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  Speaker 2: What have we heard?
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  Speaker 3: You're speaking, of course, of a report that was in
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  Speaker 3: the Wall Street Journal on Saturday. claiming to have some
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  Speaker 3: kind of exclusive sourcing on what it called in its
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  Speaker 3: headline Mark Carney's audacious bid to make Canada an associate
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  Speaker 3: member of the European Union. Except, as an advisor to
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  Speaker 3: Carney was quick to tell the CBC, associate membership actually
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: apparently isn't what's under discussion and being contemplated. Mark Carney
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  Speaker 3: himself was on his way into the Toronto International Film
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  Speaker 3: Festival for an event, a red carpet event last evening,
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  Speaker 3: and he tried to set the record straight.
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  Speaker 2: We're not looking to become a member of the European Union.
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  Speaker 2: What we are looking and beginning, we'll begin discussions for
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  Speaker 2: a unique alliance with the European Union, between Canada and
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  Speaker 2: the European Union. We share the same values, we have
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  Speaker 2: the same priorities, and we have very complementary strengths. we're
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  Speaker 2: stronger together. And this is at a time where the
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  Speaker 2: world's more dangerous and divided and friends need to stick
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  Speaker 2: together at these times.
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  Speaker 3: So how do we get here? Because it is no
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  Speaker 3: secret that Carney wants to deepen Canada's relationship with Europe.
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  Speaker 3: He's referred to Canada as the most European of all countries.
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  Speaker 3: Notwithstanding the fact that Europeans haven't even fully ratified the
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  Speaker 3: decade-old trade agreement in place with Canada, there has been
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  Speaker 3: talk for some time about deepening the relationship, particularly when
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: it comes to defense trade and security in light of
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: the Ukraine war in the United States. Shall I call
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: it the lack of enthusiasm now for NATO and deepening
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  Speaker 3: relationships with allies, the middle powers, are rethinking and knowing
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  Speaker 3: that they have to stick together more. What would a
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  Speaker 3: partnership look like, though, exactly? Because the EU, of course,
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  Speaker 3: does have different relationships with European countries that don't use
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  Speaker 3: the euro and Maybe they share a border, but they
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  Speaker 3: aren't part of the European Union per se. You think
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  Speaker 3: of Norway, you think of Switzerland, the Schengen area. Also,
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  Speaker 3: we know that Europe has as a requirement for being
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: in the EU to actually be physically in the EU.
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  Speaker 3: Of course, Canada is not. The government official that spoke
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  Speaker 3: to CBC News said none of the existing kind of
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  Speaker 3: relationships Europe has had with others really work very well.
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  Speaker 3: Canada doesn't want to give up its independence and return
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  Speaker 3: for market access. Indeed, it already has market access. This
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  Speaker 3: label that was being discussed in the Wall Street Journal piece,
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  Speaker 3: you know, was just one of several things thrown around,
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  Speaker 3: but it wasn't proposed by Canada, apparently. And from Canada's perspective,
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  Speaker 3: they're actually not really hung up on what you call it.
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  Speaker 3: They're more hung up on what they're hoping to get
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  Speaker 3: out of it. The European ambassador was on Power and
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  Speaker 3: Politics last week and also was speaking about this being
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  Speaker 3: something bespoke and unique and something that would be kind
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  Speaker 3: of reimagined, not something off the shelf using an existing label.
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  Speaker 3: But what would it be? We will have to listen
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  Speaker 3: to what Carney says when he somewhat extraordinarily. is invited
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  Speaker 3: to speak at the opening of the European Parliament later
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  Speaker 3: on this week. Of course, there is a Canada-EU summit
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  Speaker 3: set for the end of next month, which presumably would
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  Speaker 3: be a place where you would work out what a
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  Speaker 3: new partnership looks like. But it's also possible even the
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  Speaker 3: two sides don't really know what this could be yet.
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  Speaker 3: There is no question that Canada needs allies. The problem is, though,
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  Speaker 3: that so long as Carney doesn't define exactly what he's
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  Speaker 3: doing in a more transparent way, that opens the door
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  Speaker 3: for all sorts of other people to make assumptions and
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  Speaker 3: say things that may or may not be true on
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  Speaker 3: this file. And at a time when questions of sovereignty
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  Speaker 3: are very high stakes politically, a lack of clarity here
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  Speaker 3: could be a real problem.
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  Speaker 1: So when we're talking about that lack of clarity and,
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  Speaker 1: of course, the broad, somewhat vague language as well being used,
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  Speaker 1: we know that the opposition conservatives, for example, seized on
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  Speaker 1: this question to whether or not there should be a
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  Speaker 1: push that Canada should, you know, when something that makes
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  Speaker 1: Canada more sovereign. So how are they responding?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, let's take a look at some of these posts
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  Speaker 3: that came up after this article came out. Pierre Polyev
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  Speaker 3: on his social media channels talking about it. fictional Canadian
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  Speaker 3: waitress that would be struggling with rent and now having
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  Speaker 3: to pay tax dollars to bloated EU bureaucracy, a fictional
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  Speaker 3: welder in Welland that apparently didn't elect a bureaucrat to
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  Speaker 3: regulate our steel. He's leaning into the sort of sentiments
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  Speaker 3: we saw in the Brexit debate in the UK a
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  Speaker 3: decade ago, still very potent for whipping up emotions and
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  Speaker 3: getting all that engagement on social media, but probably of himself, remember,
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  Speaker 3: traveled to Germany to make the case for a closer
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  Speaker 3: relationship between Canada and and a key European partner like that.
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  Speaker 3: So if he comes out too strongly against a strong
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  Speaker 3: partnership for Canada, he does run the risk of contradicting
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  Speaker 3: what had been in the past his own message. Shubh Majumder,
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  Speaker 3: a critic for Canada-US relations, also talking about how the
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: 51st state was a bad idea, so too would be
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  Speaker 3: being Europe's 28th state, saying sovereignty is not for sale,
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  Speaker 3: saying Canada should have the self-respect to build its own country.
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  Speaker 3: Adam Chambers also frequently speaks out about trade issues, pointing
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  Speaker 3: out that the PM's speech should demand immediate ratification of
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  Speaker 3: CETA and an end to sort of issues where they're
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  Speaker 3: holding out, trying to protect their own farmers, saying anything
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  Speaker 3: short is just fluff. And on that, because I think
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  Speaker 3: it is a fair point to try to hold Europe
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  Speaker 3: accountable for maybe some of the issues inside its own
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  Speaker 3: borders that are holding this relationship back. Stéphane Dion, former
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: ambassador of Canada in the Europe, was talking about how
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  Speaker 3: Full membership would never be a possibility for both sides,
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  Speaker 3: for including those reasons.
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  Speaker 4: Take a listen. We need to have deepened ties. but
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  Speaker 4: will not become a member of the EU. It will
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  Speaker 4: never reach the first base. Don't know why some people
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  Speaker 4: are speaking about that. It will never happen because Canada
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  Speaker 4: will never accept the loss of sovereignty it represents because
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  Speaker 4: the EU themselves, they are afraid of the competition of
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  Speaker 4: agriculture because we will not accept to pay equalization payments
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  Speaker 4: in Europe because we'd be a rich country in Europe.
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  Speaker 4: We have enough debates about equalization payment in Canada.
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  Speaker 3: Let's be clear, the European Union faces its own nationalist movements,
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  Speaker 3: people who are trade skeptics, wary of more collaboration on security, defense, immigration,
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  Speaker 3: all those things. So they have their own kind of
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  Speaker 3: political cats to herd in all of this, notwithstanding the
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  Speaker 3: debate here in Canada about whether it's a good idea.
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  Speaker 3: So all of this is going to confront this summit
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  Speaker 3: at the end of October, trying to figure out how
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  Speaker 3: to actually implement even the agreement they already have.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Janice, thank you for this. That's the CBC's Janice
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  Speaker 1: McGregor in Ottawa.
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  Speaker 4: Thank you.