Carney downplays Washington’s decision to pause bilateral defence board

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney seems unshaken by the United States’ abrupt decision to pause a joint defence board and put its future under review.

Speaking at a news conference in Quebec today, Carney says the long-standing Permanent Joint Board on Defense has a long “heritage” but cautions that he wouldn’t “overplay” the significance of the U.S. move.

The prime minister says his government will continue ramping up defence spending and is clearly taking action on defence through measures such as upgrades to Norad’s infrastructure.

On Sunday the U.S. undersecretary of defence policy announced the board is being frozen and claimed Canada had “failed to make credible progress on its defence commitments.”

Ottawa and NATO announced this spring that Canada had met its alliance defence spending target of two per cent of GDP for the first time over the past year.

The board, which hasn’t met since 2024, was established in 1940 as an advisory body for U.S.-Canada bilateral defence co-operation, but its suspension does not affect joint military operations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 19, 2026.

— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press