• Carney’s Turkish defence tango: A dance of dollars, drones and overcoming distrust

  Source: CBC Politics
  Date: 2026-10-25 20:01:24.0
  Tags: [National, Trade, Defence, Industry, Technology]

  Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a new strategic trade and defence partnership between Canada and Turkey during a visit to Istanbul and Ankara, aiming to reduce Canadian procurement reliance on the United States. The agreement follows the 2024 lifting of a de facto Canadian arms embargo—which had been imposed after Wescam camera equipment meant for NATO operations in Syria was illicitly diverted to Azerbaijan—and establishes that future military exports will undergo strict case-by-case permit reviews. Turkish officials and private companies, including drone manufacturer Baykar, have also expressed interest in making direct investments in Canada's aerospace and defence manufacturing sectors.

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• Read a transcript of Carney’s speech to the European Parliament

  Source: Global News Politics
  Date: 2026-09-17 18:21:30.0
  Tags: [National, Trade, Economy, Industry, Technology, Defence]

  Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the European Parliament to pitch a deeper strategic and economic partnership between Canada and the European Union, focusing on cooperation in artificial intelligence, critical minerals, and defence. Highlighting existing agreements like CETA and the Strategic Partnership Agreement, Carney responded favorably to an invitation from EU leadership for Canada to become the EU's first associate member. He proposed bolstering collective resilience through seamless digital trade, joint access to frontier research programs such as Horizon and Erasmus Plus, and secure supply chains spanning over 34 critical minerals and clean energy technologies.

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• Canada ready to further distance itself from U.S. on military procurement

  Source: CBC Politics
  Date: 2026-08-29 08:00:00.0
  Tags: [National, Defence, Trade, Industry, Technology]

  Ottawa is shifting its military procurement strategy away from the United States amid ongoing tariff disputes, aiming to reduce reliance on American contractors and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) framework. Stephen Fuhr, head of the Defence Investment Agency, stated that the public has no appetite for sole-source American military contracts, putting procurements like Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets and potential Black Hawk helicopters under review. Concurrently, Canada is pursuing European and domestic alternatives, including negotiations with Swedish firm Saab for Gripen fighter jets and GlobalEye radar aircraft, and awarding a $2.3-billion Arctic military satellite communications contract to Telesat to reduce reliance on Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink network.

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