Federal Government: 1)Carney reflects on 2025’s ‘challenges’ in New Year’s Eve message; 2)Carney’s foreign policy shift to trade, security prompts questions about human rights; 3)(Updated) Carney meets Zelenskyy in Halifax as Trump prepares to host peace talks

1)Carney reflects on 2025’s ‘challenges’ in New Year’s Eve message

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Canadian Press Staff, Dec. 31, 2025.

Prime Minister Mark Carney says in his New Year’s Eve message that Canada faced “challenges” in 2025 but the country is strongest when it’s united.

As Canadians prepare to ring in the new year, Carney says it’s a time to reflect on the moments that brought us joy in 2025 and the people who made our lives special.

But he also acknowledges the past year brought “more than its share of challenges” for Canada.

Carney says that despite the year’s trials, 2025 reminded Canadians that “we are fortunate to be part of one extraordinary, generous and caring nation.”

The prime minister says Canadians make Canada strong by taking care of each other.

Carney says he will resolve to carry that spirit and those values forward into 2026.

2)Carney’s foreign policy shift to trade, security prompts questions about human rights;

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Dylan Robertson, December 29, 2025

As Prime Minister Mark Carney puts trade and security at the centre of Canada’s foreign policy, observers say Ottawa is also shifting how it asserts its values on the world stage.

The Liberals insist they are still standing up for human rights globally while seeking investment from China, India and Gulf countries. But a change in priorities is prompting some criticism — and changing how Canada trains its diplomats.

“They won’t say out loud (that) we’re going to be less interested in values, but clearly that seems to be the case,” said University of Ottawa professor Stephen Brown.

Last month, Carney told reporters that while Canada no longer has an explicitly feminist foreign policy, his government is still upholding values that include defending LGBTQ+ rights abroad and combating violence against women.

“Yes, we have that aspect to our foreign policy, but I wouldn’t describe our foreign policy as feminist foreign policy,” Carney said during the G20 summit in Johannesburg.

His comments came after mounting criticism from human rights advocates on other themes, such as Carney courting investment from the United Arab Emirates amid widespread allegations the country is fuelling ethnic violence in Sudan.

Former foreign affairs minister Lloyd Axworthy has accused Carney of taking a “bootlicking” approach to U.S. President Donald Trump, by muting a focus on Canadian values in order to try salvaging trade access.

He has criticized the government for being part of “a breakdown of collective courage” globally. For him, that includes not calling out the U.S. for sanctioning members of the International Court of Justice — inducing a Canadian.

Axworthy also laments that Ottawa is not mounting a robust campaign to stop countries from exiting the Ottawa Treaty that Axworthy had brokered to prevent the use of landmines.

In November’s budget, the government signalled it would scale down funding for global health initiatives, “where Canada’s contribution has grown disproportionately relative to other similar economies.”

Brown, whose research focuses on foreign aid, said that effectively means “we were being leaders, and we don’t want to be leaders anymore.”

He said Canada is increasingly seen by its peers as placating the Trump administration instead of asserting its own vision of human rights and international law.

“Reputation is a currency, and it can count for a lot in international negotiations,” Brown said.

“If people just see Canada as … too afraid to disagree with the Trump-led United States — if Canada won’t stand up for Canadians abroad, then Canada can be seen as a pushover. And that weakens us on the international level.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has insisted that Canada is still advancing human rights, which she outlined as a third pillar of Canada’s foreign policy alongside economic security and defence, in her inaugural United Nations speech as Canada’s top diplomat.

She told the House foreign affairs committee on Nov. 27 that shifting geopolitics required Canada to change how it talks about values.

“We are going to make sure that our commitments to gender equality, human rights, women and girls will continue in a way that recognizes the new geopolitical and fiscal context — both of which demand a different frame,” she testified.

That new frame seems to have changes how Global Affairs Canada trains its diplomats.

Stephen Nagy, a Canadian who works as a politics professor at the International Christian University in Tokyo, has been commissioned by GAC at various points to train diplomats.

In his recent Indo-Pacific regional security course, Nagy said the department didn’t ask him to touch on gender and identity issues, despite this being part of the scope in previous years.

“That tells me a lot about the direction,” he said. “If these were priorities, that course would have had at least two hours on it, but it went through multiple layers of the bureaucracy, and they didn’t ask for any inclusion of those issues.”

3)(Updated) Carney meets Zelenskyy in Halifax as Trump prepares to host peace talks

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Emily Baron Cadloff, December 27, 2025

Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned new Russian air attacks and announced additional economic assistance for Ukraine as he and the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, stood side-by-side and spoke to reporters at a Halifax-area airport.

The two leaders embraced as Carney welcomed Zelenskyy to Canada. Zelenskyy touched down for a brief stop on his way to Florida for planned peace talks with U.S. president Donald Trump this weekend, which he called “very important and very constructive.”

Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital with missiles and drones on Saturday, killing at least one person and wounding 27. The Russian Defense Ministry said the strike targeted energy infrastructure used by Ukrainian forces, though several residential buildings were hit.

Carney said Canada will provide a further $2.5 billion of economic assistance for Ukraine, noting the money will help unlock financing from other organizations, including the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for reconstruction.

“The barbarism that we saw overnight — the attack on Kiev — shows just how important it is that we stand with Ukraine during this difficult time,” Carney said.

Zelenskyy thanked Canada for its support and called the new attacks “Russia’s answer on our peace efforts” and said it showed that Russian president Vladimir Putin “doesn’t want peace.”

Zelenskyy also called Putin a “man of war.”

Moscow has said the new strike was in response to Ukraine’s attacks on “civilian objects” in Russia.

Canada has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, committing $6.5 billion in military support along with humanitarian aid.

Zelenskyy has said the U. S-backed peace plan is about 90 per cent ready, but sticking points remain on security guarantees and other issues.

Following their brief remarks, Carney and Zelenskyy attended a private bilateral meeting, followed by a virtual meeting with other world leaders and members of the Coalition of the Willing. In attendance were leaders of Italy, Germany, France, Sweden and NATO, along with other nations.

The Ukrainian leader’s stop in Canada followed a phone call between him and Carney on Friday.

In a social media post after that call, Zelenskyy said he believed much can be accomplished between Ukraine and the U.S., though he accused Russia of dragging its feet and trying to waste time.

Zelenskyy has said he would aim to ensure there were “as few unresolved issues as possible” in talks with Trump, while respecting Ukraine’s red lines. He has said that in the draft peace plan, the U.S. has committed to providing guarantees that mirror the NATO alliance’s Article 5, which means an attack on Ukraine would trigger a collective military response from the U.S. and its allies.

But key details must be worked out in a bilateral agreement.

Territorial concessions are the most sensitive of issues the two leaders will discuss, including the Donetsk region and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Zelenskyy reiterated that Ukraine would never recognize any territory as Russian “under any circumstances.”

–With files from The Associated Press.