Despite Prime Minister Mark Carney shutting down media questions when asked about advocating for Canada to join the European Union as an “associate member,” days later, Canadians learned from the EU Commission that the EU is “opening the door” for Canada to join as an “associate member.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is demanding answers from the Prime Minister, as there have been no details on what the “associate membership” could look like for Canada, including regarding sovereignty and immigration policy.
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During her State of the European Union address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that she would work with Carney to make Canada the EU’s first “associate member.”
“To all of us, Europe and Canada believe in democracy. That power does not belong to the strongest, richest, and loudest, but to all of us. That democracies have the freedom to choose with whom to work,” Von der Leyen said. “So we are joining forces voluntarily. We will move from CETA to an alliance for the future to create a common prosperity and economic security space.”
CETA, or the Canada-EU Trade Agreement, has been in the works for over a decade, but a number of European nations have refused to ratify the agreement. Many critics have pointed to this failure to reach consensus within the EU as an example of the economic and political union’s failure to work.
According to a Politico–Europe article, European nations that are holding out on the deal have cited Canadian agricultural exports as a concern that they believe could hurt European farmers.
Von der Leyen said the alliance will involve working together on intelligent manufacturing, tech, integration of “defence industrial bases,” and building the Arctic into a “flagship joint project.” She also said the EU-Canada alliance would involve “working on energy-critical minerals and batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum, cyber and economic security.”
“In short, we want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible,” she added. “Dear Mark, I said we must urgently reimagine our partnership. I would like to work with you on opening the door to Canada for being the first associate member of the European Union.”
The announcement corroborates reports over the weekend that Carney was seeking “associate membership” with the EU, a claim Carney denied in Toronto on Sunday.
In an exclusive interview with Juno News’ Marc Patrone, released Wednesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre remarked that “nobody knows” what is in the deal, but he raised concerns about ceding Canadian sovereignty to the European Union.
“Nobody knows because he won’t say. We already have free trade with Europe … 99 per cent of our products and services can enter the European market tariff-free,” Poilievre said. “Thank you, Stephen Harper, for signing the Canada-EU free trade agreement that’s been in place for over a decade. So it can’t really mean free trade. We already have that.”
Poilievre speculated that the alliance likely isn’t a military alliance, as 30 European countries and Canada are already part of NATO.
“That leaves very little left for him to sign. You know, if he’s talking about forcing Canadians to pay taxes to Brussels bureaucrats or to follow European Union laws that we never voted on, or God forbid, to bring European policies for immigration, that would be a disaster for Canada,” Poilievre said.
He added that Conservatives would “never support forcing Canadians to pay European taxes, follow European laws, or welcome European policy on immigration that would further overwhelm our hospitals, housing, and jobs.”
Ultimately, Poilievre demanded transparency from the federal government and asserted that Canada, as a nation, needs to retain sovereignty over its borders, immigration, taxes, and laws.
“That’s sovereignty, and that is what we will, as conservatives, defend. But we’re all left speculating because so far all we have are leaks from the Canadian and European governments to the Wall Street Journal, combined with wordplay by the prime minister; he won’t show up in Canada’s House of Commons to answer any questions,” Poilievre said. “So we’re all left wondering what he’s talking about.”
When asked whether joining the EU in this capacity could have been planned with Carney, who rejected a deal with the U.S. moments after agreeing to it, Poilievre said there’s no way to know, as Carney hasn’t been transparent with what the deal with the U.S. entailed.
“The way to put that all the rest is for the prime minister to just release the text of the agreement that he had accepted, and then turned around and rejected it,” he said. “He won’t tell us. He won’t show us what’s in that agreement. So it’s very hard for me to comment on whether it was a good or bad deal.”
Poilievre noted that the details of the deal have gone beyond the point of confidentiality, as both sides of the government have commented “very openly” on what the trade talks said, although those reports are conflicting.
“He can release the text, and then let Canadians judge whether it was a deal that he should have walked away from,” Poilievre said.
The Prime Minister’s Office, Global Affairs Canada and the office of the International Trade Minister have yet to respond to Juno News’ requests for clarity on what “associate membership with the EU” entails.
As a Canadian, I'm not interested in an EU membership.
This PM is not a dictator- last time I checked - we need an open dialogue on this and a vote from the people. What scares me more than Carney is the people who blindly follow him and his liberal agenda. 1984 is coming to Canada real soon if the people of this country don’t stand up to this crazy sickness that is plaguing our ruling government. God help us.