In Davos last month, Prime Minister Mark Carney declared a “rupture” in the global order. The speech capped off a whirlwind few weeks of deal-making from Carney, with stops in China where he announced a new Strategic Partnership with Beijing, and in Qatar, where he finalized a long-delayed investment deal. In a few weeks, Carney is expected to travel to India, pursuing more trade deals. All of this strategic diversification is driven by a realization that the United States is no longer the reliable and predictable ally it once was. 

Beyond trade, Ottawa has also moved to diversify its defence partnerships, including by joining the European Union’s (EU) “SAFE”—Security Action for Europe—program, becoming the first non-European country to participate in the EU’s flagship effort to boost defence production. At a moment of growing geopolitical uncertainty and strain in the US-Canada relationship, this move signals a welcome effort by Ottawa to diversify its defence partnerships beyond its southern neighbour. But SAFE is not a silver bullet. The scale of available funding and the conditions attached to it mean that deeper integration with Europe should complement, not replace, Canada’s long-standing defence ties with the United States.

Better SAFE than sorry

Canada and EU member states find themselves in a similar situation: confronting years of chronic underinvestment in security as the global security environment worsens. As Russia’s war machine in Ukraine rages on and threats to wider transatlantic security become ever more real, NATO allies including Canada are increasing their defence spending with the drive to reach 5 percent of GDP spent on defence. But recent events, such as the crisis over Greenland, have once again damaged trust between Canada and Europe on one hand and the United States on the other.

In this context and with a longer-term lens, Europe has been working hard at the EU level to construct new frameworks to facilitate the continent’s........

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