Canada, EU close Montreal summit with ‘alliance for the future’ pact

Canada and the European Union officially launched an “alliance for the future” on Friday and pledged to spend the next eight months in negotiations on making Canada an associate member — despite objections to that language on both sides of the Atlantic.

“Today we move toward associate membership for Canada and we launch a new alliance for the future,” Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Friday.

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He was speaking at a news conference closing a two-day summit in Montreal with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.

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 and 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.

— with files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa