Canadian PM implores U.S., Israel to respect rules of int’l engagement

OTTAWA, March 3 (Xinhua) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday expressed regret over the failure of the international order in the Middle East, imploring all parties, including the United States and Israel, to “respect the rules of international engagement.”

“Canada calls for a rapid de-escalation of hostilities and is prepared to assist in achieving this goal,” he told reporters in Sydney during his visit to Australia, according to a statement issued Tuesday.

 

Despite decades of UN Security Council resolutions and efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran’s nuclear threat remains, he said. However, the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the United Nations or consulting with allies, including Canada, he added.

Canada reaffirms that international law binds all belligerents, Carney said, noting that “resolution of this crisis requires commitment to a broader political solution” and diplomatic engagement “is essential to avoid a wider and deeper conflict.” ■

As Carney seeks strengthened global alliances, is it time Canada join the EU?

New polling shows just under half of Canadians support the idea, but there are costs.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said EU membership is something Canada is not considering. Some see risks to the idea, while others see opportunity. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

Since taking office, Prime Minister Mark Carney has made his desire to cut Canada’s economic dependence on the United States crystal clear. And along the way, he’s referenced Europe as a top destination for Canadian goods.

“As the most European of the non-European countries, Canada looks first to the European Union to build a better world,” Carney said last June at an EU-Canada summit in Brussels.

From that point on came steady and deeper integration. Canada has since signed a security and defence partnership with the EU, and this week the two sides agreed to enhance their existing free trade agreement.

This effort to tie Europe and Canada closer together raises the question for some: Should Canada join the EU?

CBC’s The House spoke to experts and former officials about the feasibility of the idea and what Canada could gain — and lose — by joining the group.
New data shows that almost half of Canadians polled are in favour of their country becoming a member state of the European Union — despite its physical distance from the continent. CBC’s Jennifer Chevalier hears the arguments for and against membership from the Global Governance Forum’s Augusto Lopez Claros, former deputy prime minister John Manley, trade expert Meredith Lilly, Canada-U.S. expert Fen Hampson and pollster David Coletto.

Is it possible for Canada to join the EU?

The answer is yes, according to Augusto Lopez Claros, a former World Bank economist and executive director of the Global Governance Forum. But it would require some modifications to the Treaty on European Union, which governs the group.

Under the treaty, any “European state” which respects the EU’s values can apply to become a member. While that initially disqualifies Canada, Claros said the group can revise the treaty through unanimous consent of all members, and each country would need to ratify the changes in their legislatures.

“Canada already behaves as a member of a values-based institutional club, which is what the European Union is,” said Claros, who supports the idea.

No plans for Canada to seek EU membership, Carney says

Prime Minister Mark Carney, asked Wednesday if there were any discussion about Canada possibly joining the European Union, said his intent is to build stronger relations with the EU and become a closer partner with the bloc — not a member.
“Canada is highly vulnerable to its relationship with one of those superpowers — the United States,” Claros said. “And it was fine in the good old days, but those good old days are gone.”

Claros argued that Canada joining the EU would not dilute the country’s identity. Instead, it would amplify Canada’s influence around the world.

“If the world is moving toward regulatory blocks shaped by shared values … then Canada must decide where it wishes to sit at the table. At the moment, it doesn’t sit at any table,” Claros said.

Last summer, Carney said Canada wants a closer partnership with the EU, but doesn’t intend to become a member. But according to polling from Abacus Data, just under half of Canadians are supportive of the idea.

Canada needs to just accept increased tariffs, U.S. says

U.S. trade envoy Jamieson Greer says Canada needs to accept increased tariffs as part of any trade deal with the Trump administration, including a possible renewal of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
“I’m not saying there’s momentum here,” said David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data. “There’s no real big campaign. But this is an idea that I think many Canadians would be open to if seriously broached.”

Coletto said he’s not surprised to see Canadians interested in the idea since there’s a feeling of betrayal toward the United States, which continues to hammer the Canadian economy with tariffs on key sectors like aluminum and steel.

“Canadians do feel that this was like a ruptured divorce,” Coletto said. “And I think they are now asking themselves, ‘who else could we partner with?’”

Canada would sacrifice sovereignty: trade expert

Meredith Lilly, a former trade adviser for prime minister Stephen Harper who now teaches international economic policy at Carleton University, said the idea would come with costs to Canada’s sovereignty.

“Canada would actually cease to be a sovereign player in trade relations with other countries,” Lilly said. “What that means is the European Parliament would manage and decide what Canada’s trade policy would be. It would not be Canada.”

Lilly also said Canada’s interests would be diluted in a group as large as the European Union, and that membership would complicate border treaties and immigration policies.

“We would have to guarantee free movement of Europeans into Canada,” Lily said. “And this would necessarily result in the Americans hardening the U.S. border with Canada for things like trade and travel and tourism.”