This Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney is due to address the opening of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
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Carney → address → Strasbourg
Guest addresses like this aren’t unheard of, but they have mostly been reserved in recent years for civil society figures focused on Ukraine, which was already a signal that something significant was to be announced, and reporting has suggested that some sort of new relationship between Canada and the European Union was in the cards.
Then on Saturday, a 5,000-word Wall Street Journal exclusive gave us a hint at what might be coming.
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what → reserve → hint
The reporting claimed that the prime minister has spent months using his extensive European rolodex and connections to push for a deeper relations with the EU.
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minister → claim → EU
According to the Journal, Carney even “suggested Canada take on a new title: Associate Member of the European Union.”
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Canada → accord → Union
Government sources challenged the story later in the day, saying the reporting “overstates” what is being discussed.
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what → challenge → day
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Carney owes all Canadians a clear explanation of what is actually on the table, but
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what → owe → table
even if we don’t know for sure just yet, it’s important we have a clear eyed view about what would actually be in Canada’s interests.
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what → know → interests
Getting closer to Europe and the European Union is appropriate in a world where Canada is in need of closer economic and security relationships with likeminded allies and friends, as Ottawa seeks to lessen dependence on the United States.
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Ottawa → get → States
But this does not, and should not, mean joining the EU even in an “associate” role, even if the government is not currently pursuing anything so formal.
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government → mean → anything
The whole reason the government is seeking close relationships with other allies and partners is precisely because there is a newfound sense of urgency in protecting and reasserting Canadian independence.
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government → seek → independence
We cannot trick ourselves into giving up sovereignty to Brussels.
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We → trick → Brussels
I am of the view that we must lessen our dependence on a much less reliable and volatile United States no matter who succeeds Donald Trump as president.
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who → lessen → president
A president who muses about annexation and slaps tariffs on his closest ally and biggest trading partner isn’t just an aberration, he is himself a symptom of an America that haw changed.
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that → muse → America
At the same time, we cannot delude ourselves into thinking we will ever be able to entirely detach ourselves from America.
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we → delude → America
They will likely remain our biggest trading partner and most important security partner.
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They → remain → ?
Turning to Europe as a place we can build closer economic and defence arrangements with is a fitting a approach in the light of how relations with the U.S. have devolved.
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relations → turn → U.S.
But don’t be fooled into thinking this means we must therefore join the European Union.
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we → fool → Union
We still have no idea what being an “associate member” would mean, and the Wall Street Journal reporting doesn’t make that clear.
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that → have → what
There are other arrangements like the European Free Trade Association, which includes Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein who are not full members, but three of whom participate in the European single market via the European Economic Area, with Switzerland’s access instead coming through its own bilateral deals, and all four of whom are in the Schengen Area, meaning open borders with the EU.
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four → be → EU
Some are not in the monetary union and don’t use the Euro.
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Some → use → Euro
But whatever is being proposed for Canada appears to be new.
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proposed → propose → Canada
This obscures the more useful and important question, which is not whether Canada should join the EU in some new, undefined capacity, but whether it needs to.
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it → obscure → capacity
We don’t.
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We → do → ?
For instance, if we want free trade with the EU (which is not the same as being in the single market), Canada signed CETA, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, with the bloc back in 2016.
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Canada → want → 2016
A decade later, 10 member states, including France, still have not ratified it.
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states → include → it
If we want to deepen economic ties with the EU, why don’t we start here?
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we → want → EU
It might not be as flashy and sexy, but getting CETA fully ratified, deepening the defence procurement and research ties that are already underway, building out the data and satellite infrastructure both sides say they want do not require anything that changes our existing arrangements and would benefit both Canada and the EU.
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that → get → Canada
But even if full, or even partial membership, is not in the cards, we should think carefully about what we are attaching ourselves to.
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we → think → ourselves
The 27 member nations of the EU (and the few others closely intertwined through the EFTA) have created an economic entity that guarantees the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people — known as “the four freedoms.”
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that → intertwine → freedoms
More access to this market is a great idea, but let’s be honest about what full integration with that would entail.
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integration → let → that
EU member states give up a significant amount of sovereignty and national self-determination.
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states → give → sovereignty
National courts must set aside domestic law that conflicts with EU law, and governments can no longer block goods, services, or workers from other member states to protect their own industries.
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governments → set → industries
Environmental, energy, labour and procurement regulations must be aligned, as well.
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regulations → align → ?
Deeper still, the customs union means Brussels alone sets tariffs and negotiates trade deals with non members, so no country can strike its own agreement with Washington or Beijing.
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country → mean → Washington
Eurozone members surrender monetary policy entirely to the European Central Bank and accept Brussels-enforced limits on deficits and debt, and Schengen states abolish their own border controls with each other altogether.
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states → surrender → other
Together these amount to one of the deepest peacetime surrenders of national control any democracy has ever voluntarily accepted.
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democracy → amount → control
You can make the argument that these are sacrifices are worth making, but make no mistake that joining this union means sacrificing sovereignty at a level that, quite frankly, I think most Canadians divorced of our current fight with the Americans, would be very uncomfortable giving up.
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Canadians → make → Americans
While the EU might be a massive market we should want access to, it faces its own major challenges.
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it → want → challenges
Mario Draghi, the former president of the European Central Bank and briefly prime minister of Italy, authored a major report in 2024 that exposes how sclerotic and stagnant the EU economy has become.
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economy → author → 2024
He found that the income gap between the EU and the United States had roughly doubled in the two decades before the report, from about 15 per cent to about 30 per cent, and that closing it would require something like 800 billion euros a year in new investment.
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closing → find → investment
…and 26 more, not listed.
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