cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/11367785

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Prime Minister Mark Carney is calling for a “deeper partnership” between Canada and Europe in order to hedge against great powers encroaching on the sovereignty of smaller nations.

“Together, Canada and the European Union can anchor our ground to hold our values while forming a protective canopy under which our citizens can thrive,” Carney said in an address to the European Parliament on Thursday morning.

“This is about sovereignty. Our ability to live as we wish. It is about the freedoms we must fight for every day. Sovereignty requires resilience — the ability to withstand shocks.”

The prime minister called for an “alliance of the future” between Canada and the 27 countries that make up the European Union. Carney has been trying to forge closer ties with Europe amid Canada’s ongoing trade war with the United States.

The prime minister didn’t mention Donald Trump by name, but nodded to the U.S. president’s tactics in his speech. Carney echoed his Davos speech from earlier this year, saying economic integration has been used as leverage and suggesting that Europe can be a more reliable ally.

“We are not fair-weather allies. We do not pursue zero-sum deals,” Carney said. “We hold common values, for which we have always fought, and in whose defence we must always remain vigilant.”

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Carney offered a rebuke of Trump and other hegemonic powers in his address on Thursday, suggesting that an alliance between Canada and the EU will be a “beacon for other democracies.”

“I want to be precise about what I am not proposing. I am not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great-power rival, only with better manners,” he said.

“We do not seek power to dominate others. On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so that no one can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”

Over the last year, Canada has signed several new partnership agreements with the EU. It was also the first non-European country to become a member of Security Action for Europe (SAFE), which provides €150 billion in loans for defence spending.

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