Highlights of Mark Carney's speech as Canadian Prime Minister in Strasbourg

Mark Carney, Canada's prime minister, called for a strategic alliance between the European Union and Canada. He also proposed joint efforts in the areas of critical minerals, artificial intelligence, defence, and trade.

Carney's remarks came a day after Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said that she was preparing to open the door for Canada to become an "associate" member in her State of the European Union Address.

Highlights:

CARNEY ABOUT GEOPOLITICAL BACKDROP

"Today our societies are being rocked with new storms - the upheavals related to climate change, erosion of democratic standards, and the use trade as a weapons."

"The multilateral organizations on which we relied have been weakened." Today, it is difficult to reconcile sovereignty and openness. Tariffs and economic integration are now used to exert pressure.

"Technology has transformed the nature of warfare, the structure of economies and the ability of governments to govern."

"Technology platforms are aspiring to sovereignty. They want to define the conditions of access. They want to dictate regulations and even circumvent them. They want to spread misinformation, control our data and steal the childhoods of our children.

This is a "ferocious" storm. It will bring down a single tree. "A forest will not."

CARNEY ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP - OFFER

We are not a group of shady allies. We ?do not pursue zero-sum deals. "Our commitment to the rule-of-law, our unwavering defence of individual freedom and democracy, and the deep roots of our unwavering defense of human dignity and the rule of the law share the same unwavering devotion."

"We do not believe that a strong economic system is an end in and of itself, but rather a means to create a more just society."

Each is strong. "Europe and Canada are stronger together."

"President von der Leyen said yesterday that Canada would become the first associate member of the European Union if it moves beyond CETA. We applaud this ambition. Olling shows that a majority of Canadians "supports much closer ties."

"An alliance that is strong enough to ensure no one can dictate what we do. "Open enough that others could join." Our strength should be able to reinforce international law, rather than replace it.

CARNEY ON THE ACTIONS THAT A DEEPER ALIGNMENT CAN TAKE

"Sovereignty is dependent on resilience, the ability to endure shocks."

"Canada and Europe should ensure our strategic autonomy by deepening cooperation in all areas of strategic capabilities, such as critical minerals, defence industry capacity, AI and computing and energy security, space and payments."

We should be moving towards digital, seamless trade of non-agricultural products and services. We need to deepen our people-to-people connections, so that our youth can live, study, and work anywhere they choose on either side.

"Canada can contribute LNG or hydrogen in large quantities to support Europe's security of energy, including by developing new port infrastructure on our east and high north coasts."

(source: Reuters)