Prime Minister Mark Carney and his European Union counterparts closed a major summit Friday by announcing what they called an “alliance for the future.”
Carney, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa announced the plan in Montreal as the two-day Canada-EU Summit concluded.
All three also discussed the prospect of Canada obtaining “associate member” status in the EU, despite strong pushback from member states including Germany.
“Today we move toward associate membership for Canada, and we launch a new alliance for the future,” Carney told reporters at a closing news conference Friday.
Both jurisdictions released a seven-page joint statement Friday that calls for more industrial collaboration and supply chain integration and cites various current joint projects.
The statement included announcements that officials on both sides of the Atlantic promoted in the days leading up to the Montreal summit.
They include a new digital trade agreement and a deal to allow the European Investment Bank to fund critical raw materials projects in Canada.
Carney said the various agreements signed Friday will make it easier for Canadians to do business with and within the EU.
“Seamless payments will make it easier to sell online in Europe, so a business owner in Manitoba or a lobster harvester in Prince Edward Island will clear customs faster, getting their products to European markets,” Carney said.
“A tech startup in Vancouver will have a smoother path to customers in Berlin. Bottom line: less red tape, more growth, more opportunity.”
Carney argued these agreements will help make life more affordable for Canadians.
Von der Leyen said the agreements signed Friday will help create “good jobs” and encourage companies to expand.
The joint statement also cites agreements to give Canadian artificial-intelligence researchers access to European supercomputers and to hold more discussions on Arctic and border security.
The statement calls for reforming the World Trade Organization instead of replacing it, and doing more to fight climate change and biodiversity loss.
It pledges to “explore a next-generation youth mobility partnership” touching on work and academic exchanges.
Culture Minister Marc Miller said Thursday any discussions of labour mobility in industries like film production would need to include the provinces, many of which have their own tax credits that promote local talent.
Miller has been meeting with his European counterparts to discuss setting new regulations on promoting Canadian and European content on streaming services, along with new safeguards for children online.
“We’re not talking about the same exact rules potentially, but convergence and allyship with respect to large, transnational companies that in some cases need to be regulated to protect kids or to promote our cultures in the face of overwhelming, monopolistic cultures, one of which is the United States, but others across the world,” Miller said in an interview.
Miller said officials are also looking at ways to increase the number of co-productions between Canada and Europe like the TV series Vikings, a Canadian-Irish co-production.
On Friday, leaders announced that Carney will next spring join a meeting of von der Leyen’s cabinet — the college of commissioners — and that Costa will host Carney in June at a meeting of the European Council.
Costa said the goal is to announce more details of the partnership at that June meeting.
Conservatives have criticized this week’s summit, noting that nine of the 28 countries in the EU have yet to ratify a decade-old trade deal with Canada.
By David Baxter
— With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa
INSAUGA Canada’s Editorial Standards and Policies
Last 30 Days: 50,849 Votes
All Time: 1,600,458 Votes
Stay in the know.
Subscribe now to receive our daily email of today’s top stories in your city!
