Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a strategic defence and security partnership with the European Union on June 23, after meeting EU leaders, in an agreement that clears the way for Canada to take part in the bloc’s collective rearmament drive and to buy military equipment alongside European allies.
The accord serves as a framework for Canada’s eventual participation in ReArm Europe, the EU’s push to dramatically expand defence production and procurement, and opens the door to the bloc’s SAFE loan program, under which allied nations can finance military purchases together. For Ottawa, the appeal is both strategic and commercial: a way to diversify suppliers and spread costs at a moment of acute uncertainty about its largest trading partner.
Carney framed the move as a correction to a long-standing dependence. "Seventy-five cents of every dollar of capital spending for defence goes to the United States," he said, casting the European partnership as a route to rebalance that flow. Alongside the agreement, he reaffirmed a commitment to lift Canadian defence spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035 — a steep climb for a country that has long sat below NATO’s 2 percent benchmark.
The defence pact is the latest in a burst of activity from a government that promised rapid change before Canada Day. Parliament recently passed Bill C-5, legislation aimed at eliminating federal interprovincial trade barriers and removing exceptions under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, a measure Carney has cast as essential to strengthening the domestic economy against external shocks.
On the institutional front, Carney announced on June 22 the nomination of Glenn D. Joyal to the Supreme Court of Canada, and his government has advanced a series of bills including a "lost Canadians" citizenship measure and cyber-security legislation. The pace reflects a prime minister trying to bank achievements quickly after taking office.
The political backdrop is not entirely smooth. Elections Canada was notified of two parliamentary vacancies on June 23 after two MPs resigned, just as the House rose for summer recess, setting up byelections that will test the durability of the Liberals’ majority. Every seat matters for a government trying to sustain an ambitious legislative agenda.
The EU partnership, though, is the headline of the week because it signals direction as much as policy. By tying Canada’s defence procurement to Europe and committing to a far higher spending trajectory, Carney is betting that a more autonomous, allied-but-not-US-dependent posture will serve Canada better in a world where its relationship with Washington can no longer be taken for granted.