fEDERAL gOVERNMENT: 1)Carney signs defence, trade agreement with Japan in final stop of 10-day trip; 2)Prime Minister Carney elevates partnership with Australia in critical minerals, defence, and artificial intelligence; 3)Carney says Canadian military participation in Middle East war can’t be ruled out; 4)Carney won’t say whether India is engaged in interference, transnational repression; 5)Canada aiming to sign India trade deal this year, Carney says in Mumbai
1) Carney signs defence, trade agreement with Japan in final stop of 10-day trip
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Anja Karadeglija, March 6, 2026.
Canada and Japan have signed a new strategic partnership agreement that aims to boost co-operation on defence, energy, trade and technology.
Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Tokyo on Friday, outlining a long list of areas where the two countries plan to deepen collaboration, from cyber policy to Arctic security and addressing climate change.
“We have much in common, and we’re enriched by each other’s cultures, perspectives and histories,” Carney said during a joint media event where both leaders made statements but took no questions.
“This is a strong foundation on which we can build something even better, more prosperous, more ambitious.”
Carney, who earned a smile and a clap from Takaichi by making some remarks in Japanese, touted the two countries’ close economic and security partnerships, including $40 billion in two-way trade and joint efforts to patrol the Pacific.
“We do much, but we’re ready to do much more,” he said.
Carney said a Team Canada trade mission will travel to Japan in “the next few months.”
Takaichi, speaking in Japanese, said the agreement marks “the first time our bilateral leaders’ statement has laid down a strategic direction in a comprehensive way.”
She said, according to a translation provided by the Japanese government, that “Canada is a like-minded partner of Japan, together promoting (a) free and open Indo-Pacific.”
The strategic partnership agreements involve closer co-operation on international emergency response, joint coast guard exercises and tackling illegal fishing in the North Pacific.
On trade, the two countries said they would instruct officials to “identify immediate investment opportunities, including through pension funds” and exchange trade delegations.
They agreed to expand trade when it comes to energy projects, including liquefied natural gas, and to work closer on critical minerals, including to secure reliable supplies, among other measures.
They also announced a new cyber policy dialogue to address “growing threats in cyberspace.”
The two countries are planning additional “joint operations and training exercises, including joint sails between the Royal Canadian Navy and the Japanese Navy.” Japan could potentially participate in Canada’s Operation NANOOK, the release said.
Canadian ambassador to Japan Ian McKay told reporters that Canada has had a very good relationship with Japan for decades, but that it’s been “almost responsive to the issues of the day.”
He said that with the comprehensive strategic partnership, “this is now a relationship we need to double down on and accelerate everything we do.” He cited defence and security co-operation, supply chain resilience, and increasing agricultural and energy exports and co-operation on critical minerals.
2)Prime Minister Carney elevates partnership with Australia in critical minerals, defence, and artificial intelligence
March 5, 2026
Canberra, Australia, Office of the Prime Minister
In a rapidly changing world, Canada is focused on what we can control. We are building our economic strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad. Australia is a natural partner in this mission. We are long-standing, reliable partners with a common parliamentary system and a shared respect for democracy. We are federations backed by strong resource and agricultural economies, with ambitions to diversify and build. By working more closely together, we can create stability, security, and prosperity for our peoples.
To those ends, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, travelled to Sydney and Canberra, Australia, this week. In Canberra, Prime Minister Carney met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, marking the first bilateral visit of a Canadian Prime Minister to Australia in nearly two decades. The leaders released a joint statement outlining new partnerships in investment, defence and security, critical minerals, energy, and artificial intelligence (AI). Prime Minister Carney also accepted the invitation to address the Australian Parliament, where he spoke about the enduring ties between Canada and Australia and the two countries’ potential to build economic growth together.
During the visit, Canada welcomed Australia into the Critical Minerals Production Alliance – an initiative launched under Canada’s G7 Presidency in 2025 to expand critical minerals production and processing capacity and diversify supply chains from mine to market. Both Canada and Australia hold vast reserves of critical minerals that are key to defence, manufacturing, and technologies, including batteries, cars, and the AI systems of the future. Closer collaboration with Australia will boost bilateral investment – creating high-paying careers in mining, harnessing clean energy opportunities, and strengthening security and defence. The leaders also launched a new Clean Energy Partnership to catalyse new trade and investment opportunities, scale-up clean energy technologies, and modernise electricity grids.
Australia is Canada’s largest defence partner in the Indo-Pacific. We are focused on growing our relationship and increasing cooperation across military exercises, procurement, and intelligence. To bolster these ties, the training of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel on the Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) system will begin in Australia in mid-2026 – enabling Canada to better detect and deter threats across the Arctic. The A-OTHR system is a key component of Canada’s North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) modernisation plan and will provide advanced early warning, enable faster detection and decision making by the CAF for airborne threats, and provide long-range surveillance to meet Canada’s domestic and continental security needs. Canada and Australia are also committed to exploring concrete mechanisms to facilitate the movement of defence equipment and personnel between our two countries, as well as removing unnecessary barriers to operational collaboration by initiating discussions on establishing a Status of Forces Agreement.
Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Albanese agreed to advance industrial collaboration to enable greater integration of our defence sectors and streamline procurement and innovation. To this end, Canada and Australia are identifying mutually beneficial options to strengthen defence trade, industrial collaboration, and cooperation on advanced technologies. This could include reduced export controls, reciprocal intellectual property sharing, and the co-production of military capabilities.
Canada and Australia will also intensify coordination to tackle criminal networks, smuggling, foreign intelligence manipulation, and cybercrimes, undertake joint efforts to safeguard the Arctic, and expand cooperation on emergency management and disaster risk reduction. This depth and breadth of cooperation will help ensure our security, emergency response, and law enforcement officials are well equipped to tackle a wide array of threats.
Both Canada and Australia are rapidly scaling up sovereign AI, compute capabilities, and other emerging technologies. To accelerate each other’s efforts, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Albanese welcomed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on AI Safety. The agreement will enable greater collaboration between Canada and Australia’s AI safety institutes, including to share expertise.
In parallel, Canada, Australia, and India will advance a MOU under the Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation Partnership, to formalise strengthened collaboration on the development and deployment of AI – connecting our industries, advancing trade missions, and enabling private-sector partnerships to create opportunities for our businesses, including small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups.
In Sydney, Prime Minister Carney welcomed a MOU to deepen investment cooperation between Canadian pension funds and Australian superannuation funds – removing barriers to investment and supporting nation-building projects at home. This will advance Canada’s mission to mobilise $1 trillion in total investments over the next five years. While in Australia, Prime Minister Carney met with business leaders and Australian pension fund executives who collectively manage nearly $7 trillion in capital to identify key sectors with immense investment potential. During the visit, the IFM announced their intention to invest up to $10 billion in Canada. Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Albanese also agreed to launch negotiations to modernise the Canada-Australia Tax Treaty. This updated treaty will facilitate increased two-way investment between Canada and Australia.
In an increasingly uncertain world, Canada is focused on what we can control. We are attracting massive investment at home, increasing partnerships with allies like Australia, and building a stronger, more independent Canadian economy.
Quote
“Canada and Australia are more than friends – we are family, with shared histories, values, and cultures. As Canada forges new partnerships and coalitions abroad, Australia is a natural partner in this mission. By working closely together in energy, critical minerals, investment, defence, and AI to move faster in these endeavours, we will create more opportunities for our peoples.”
The Rt. Hon. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada
Quick facts
This was Prime Minister Carney’s first official visit to Australia since taking office. He was accompanied by the Minister of National Defence, David J. McGuinty, and the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, François-Philippe Champagne.
The Indo-Pacific is the most economically dynamic area in the world – it accounts for over a third of global GDP, is home to 54% of the world’s population, and is the fastest-growing region on Earth.
The visit followed the Prime Minister’s engagements in India, where he announced a broad range of initiatives that will renew and expand the Canada-India partnership across energy and critical minerals, technology and AI, talent and culture, and defence.
Collaboration between Canada and Australia on the shared priorities outlined during this trip will be supported by regular meetings of the countries’ Economic, Industry, Natural Resources, and Defence ministers.
Further to the signing of a MOU between Canadian pension funds and Australian superannuation funds, Canada has invited Australian superannuation funds to visit Canada to identify investment opportunities, including in AI and advanced technologies.
In 2025, bilateral goods trade between Canada and Australia totalled $7.8 billion and bilateral services trade was valued at $4.6 billion. In 2024, Australia was the largest destination in the Indo-Pacific for Canadian direct investment, which totalled $58.8 billion, while Australia’s direct investment into Canada reached $27 billion. With its strong focus on Asia and its favourable business climate, Australia as a springboard to Southeast Asian markets for many Canadian companies.
Canada and Australia are both members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – a free trade agreement that represents 595 million consumers and 11% of global GDP.
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3) Carney says Canadian military participation in Middle East war can’t be ruled out
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Anja Karadeglija, March 4, 2026.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada can not yet rule out military participation in the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Speaking to reporters at a joint news conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra, Carney said the question around Canada’s potential future involvement is a “fundamental hypothetical,” adding the conflict can spread very broadly.
“One can never categorically rule out participation,” he said.
“We will stand by our allies, when it makes sense. There’s a distinction between the offensive actions that were taken and are being taken by the United States and Israel, that were taken by them without consultation with Canada, with other allies, and we’re not party to those actions.
“But we will always defend Canadians, we will always stand by and defend our allies when called upon.”
Over the weekend, Carney said he supports the U.S. action in Iran, but that Canada will not get directly involved in the conflict after American and Israeli militaries launched an attack on the Middle Eastern country that left its leader dead.
“Canada supports the United States acting to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and to prevent its regime from threatening international peace and security,” Carney said Saturday in India.
Carney has since shifted away from his earlier unequivocal support for American airstrikes on Iran, tempering his remarks when in Australia.
“Canada is taking the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be. We do, however, take this position with regret because the current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order,” he said.
“It appears that these actions are inconsistent with international law.”
Carney and Albanese held the joint press conference after Carney delivered remarks at the Australian Parliament in Canberra Thursday.
Asked by a reporter if he was calling for a ceasefire in Iran, Carney said that first there needs to be a de-escalation of hostilities and the end of targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Asked if heshould have called for de-escalation in his first statement, Carney said “no.”
“It is a very volatile, it’s an extremely complex situation, it’s getting more complex as time goes on but we absolutely stand by the fundamental principle that Iran should not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon,” Carney said.
One expert says Canada could still be drawn into the conflict under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump or Gulf nations.
“The more you say, the more you lay a trap for yourself with a very mercurial president,” said Fen Osler Hampson, an international affairs professor at Carleton University.
Hampson accused Carney of employing “studied ambiguity” in an effort to walk back his support for a war that is quickly engulfing countries around the region — while also trying not to upset Trump.
Stephen Saideman, a defence expert at Carleton, said Carney was also reacting to “very conflicting statements” from Washington about the goals of the U.S. campaign, which have shifted from regime change to pacification in recent days.
“Carney has realized the Americans don’t really know what they’re doing and wants to distance himself from it,” he said.
“Canada may not want to be associated with heaps of war crimes. It might also be that Carney is looking around at the reactions to his first statement — that (airstrikes) were very unpopular in Canada, that other countries are showing much more gumption.”
Canada has long opposed the Iranian regime for its many human rights abuses and acts of interference abroad. It also historically has insisted on United Nations approval for any use of force against a sovereign nation, Hampson said, even when such missions have a stated purpose of protecting civilians.
But Hampson said it’s clear the Liberals are shaping their foreign policy around avoiding the kind of open conflict with Washington that could lead to the termination of the continental trade pact on which Canada’s economy relies.
“This government is very worried about the future of the bilateral relationship with the United States, the consequences of a zombie CUSMA or the shredding of CUSMA,” he said, referring to the trade pact.
He said Trump could use the fate of the trade deal as leverage to get Canadian military personnel involved in the conflict.
The war is already choking global fuel supplies. A fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow body of water that Iran has said it will block. Trump has responded by suggesting the U.S. will conduct patrols to escort tankers through the strait.
“He may well lean on countries like Canada, which have naval assets, to assist in those operations — not necessarily to put fighters on the ground to bomb the Iranians,” Hampson said.
Hampson noted the U.S. already has pressured the U.K. to allow it to use British bases for its bombing campaign, while Trump has been quick to threaten crushing tariffs on countries that don’t bend to his will.
During the 2003 Iraq War, Hampson noted, Canada deployed naval assets to help Americans with patrols, even though Ottawa avoided taking part in the combat mission.
Hampson also said the Gulf countries to which Carney has turned for investment — Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — also might demand Canadian naval support to protect their oil shipments.
“It’s not far-fetched to think that the Qataris and the Emiratis and others will say to Canada, ‘Well, if you want to do business with us, there’s a security premium that comes with this to help us secure our shipping,'” he said.
Saideman disagreed, saying Canada has limited naval assets and Ottawa would avoid sending them to a “highly risky” Middle East.
While in the past the United States might have sought the presence of allies’ ships in the region as a sign of international support for the campaign, Saideman said, the Trump administration tends to treat such gestures with contempt. Unlike many European states, Canada does not have military bases in the Middle East.
Younes Zangiabadi, executive director of the Institute for Peace and Diplomacy, said Iran sees the war as an existential battle for the future of the regime, which is why it has been willing to attack American assets in multiple countries.
He noted that Tehran designated Canada’s navy as a terrorist organization a few months ago, in response to Ottawa’s decision to add an Iranian military branch to its list of extremist groups. Canadian troops or ships in the region could be targets, he said.
“I don’t think the Iranian regime really needs a justification to attack any of the forces supporting the Americans, as they have already attacked many of the Gulf countries,” Zangiabadi said.
Hampson said there is “huge potential for mischief” in Iran even if the war ends soon — particularly if Iran implodes and various ethnic groups and militias end up battling for control.
Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand have said Canada is trying to broker diplomacy between countries in the region — a statement that has confused some analysts.
Roland Paris, who leads the University of Ottawa’s graduate school of international affairs, said it was “puzzling” for Carney to say he is “taking the world as it is,” and to endorse American claims that negotiations with Iran failed, while still calling for de-escalation and a diplomatic solution.
Hampson said there is no evidence Ottawa is effective in Mideast diplomacy.
Canada cut off diplomatic relations with Iran in 2012 and Anand has suggested “regime change” would be required to restore them. Carney, meanwhile, has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be arrested on an international warrant if he ever entered Canada — and the two have never had an official conversation.
“I see no evidence that Canada is conducting any diplomacy here to end the conflict. There is zero evidence of that,” Hampson said.
He argued the best way for Carney’s government to withstand American pressure in the Middle East would be for the prime minister to work with like-minded countries. Spain, for example, has said it will refuse American requests to use Spanish military bases for its Iran campaign.
Hampson said pushback on the U.S. must be done carefully if it’s to have any effect.
“We have to recognize that if our foreign policy is all just about virtue-signalling, we are going to be talking to ourselves, and we are going to make life even more miserable for ourselves than it is now,” he said.
— With files from Dylan Robertson and Catherine Morrison in Ottawa
4)Carney won’t say whether India is engaged in interference, transnational repression
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Dylan Robertson, March 3, 2026.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is refusing to say whether he believes India is still behind acts of foreign interference and transnational repression in Canada.
Six days after a senior official told Canadian journalists that India had stopped such behaviour, the prime minister would not say whether he agreed and said he would not discipline that official.
During a background briefing with reporters before a trip to India last week, a senior government official said Canada is confident Indian foreign interference is not happening anymore. The official said that if Canada believed India was still interfering in its democracy, Carney would not be making the trip.
Asked during a leg of the trip in Sydney, Australia, whether he agrees with the government official who made the comments, Carney said: “I would not use those words.” He also refused several times to say whether New Delhi is interfering in Canadian democracy or repressing Sikh separatists in Canada.
It was the first time Carney spoke with reporters during the trip to India, Australia and Japan, which kicked off Friday.
“There will not be consequences for those officials … There are aspects of those briefings that I can’t share in public, and I’m not going to betray them. I will tell you that there is progress on these issues,” Carney said.
“It’s a product of the resources we’re putting in. It’s a product of the clarity of our position … We will not tolerate foreign interference, transnational repression, by anyone, and I stress, by anyone. There’s a wide range of countries who make these efforts from time to time.”
Carney’s government has been under pressure to clarify whether it believes India is still engaged in foreign interference. The Globe and Mail published a report late Sunday about the alleged role Indian consular staff played in the murder of a Canadian Sikh activist three years ago.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, an advocate for an independent Sikh homeland and president of the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara, was shot dead in Surrey, B.C., in June 2023.
The Globe and Mail cited two anonymous sources who said consular staff in Vancouver provided information to help with the killing.
Carney repeated past statements that India and Canada have had a productive series of discussions on security issues that includes work to cut down on violent acts of extortion.
Carney’s own secretary of state for combating crime, Ruby Sahota, has joined other Liberal MPs in saying New Delhi is still behind such activity, while India insists it has never engaged in interference. Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal said on social media last week he firmly denounces the federal official’s remarks to reporters because they contradict assessments from Canadian security agencies.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Tuesday that Canada can “no longer afford to put a $4-trillion economy to one side while we aim to diversity our trading partners and grow the domestic economy.”
“What we have to do — being realists, being pragmatists — is to say yes, there are serious issues in the bilateral relationship with India, and we need to address those issues from a public safety and security standpoint.”
She said the federal government will do that by building security ties with India and ensuring “the rule of law allows a trial and a judicial process to unfold independent of political actors.”
Asked last week about the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s latest assessment of the threat of foreign interference posed by India, CSIS spokesperson Eric Balsam referenced Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s remarks that “there is still more work to be done.”
“For its part, CSIS continues to take all allegations of foreign interference and transnational repression seriously. CSIS remains vigilant against foreign interference and espionage threats from all countries. CSIS’s threat assessment of the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada has not changed,” Balsam said in a statement to The Canadian Press. “When it is in Canada’s national interest to do so, CSIS will always speak publicly about threats.”
— With files from Anja Karadeglija, Jim Bronskill and Alessia Passafiume
5) Canada aiming to sign India trade deal this year, Carney says in Mumbai
Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press
By Anja Karadeglija, February 28, 2026
Canada is aiming to sign a comprehensive trade deal with India this year, Prime Minister Mark Carney told a business audience in Mumbai Saturday.
“We are now negotiating a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, with the intention to double two-way trade by 2030. Our goal, to be clear, is to sign that agreement by the end of this year,” Carney said in a speech at the Canada-India Growth and Investment Forum.
Carney is visiting Mumbai and New Delhi as part of an ongoing reset of the trade and diplomatic relationship with India.
In his speech, the prime minister pitched Canada and India as natural partners, highlighting links between people, businesses and academic institutions between the two countries. He noted investments between the two countries total more than $100 billion and two-way trade stands at more than $30 billion a year.
“The reality is, on the economic side, that level of activity is nowhere near our potential, especially as Canada and India both embark on ambitious transformations. We should aim much higher… and to be more strategic in our partnership,” Carney said.
But he acknowledged the two won’t always agree.
Carney said Canada is being “pragmatic in recognizing that progress is often incremental, that interests of nations can diverge, and that not every partner will share all our values.”
“We are actively taking on the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world that we wish to be,” he said.
Trade talks between Canada and India have stalled multiple times since they started in 2010.
Carney’s speech came as his government has been under increasing pressure to clarify whether it believes India is still engaged in foreign interference.
At a media availability earlier in the day, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand refused to answer that question, even as she was repeatedly pressed to say yes or no by reporters.
Ahead of Carney’s trip, a federal official said Carney would not be making this trip if Canada still believed agents of the Indian government were involved in extortion or threats of violence in Canada.
“Foreign interference, transnational repression is taken extremely seriously by our government and it will continue to be taken seriously because no country has a pass when it comes to domestic public safety,” Anand said.
Asked about the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s latest assessment of the threat of foreign interference posed by India, CSIS spokesperson Eric Balsam referenced Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s remarks that “there is still more work to be done.”
“For its part, CSIS continues to take all allegations of foreign interference and transnational repression seriously. CSIS remains vigilant against foreign interference and espionage threats from all countries. CSIS’s threat assessment of the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage against Canada has not changed,” Balsam said in a statement to The Canadian Press. “When it is in Canada’s national interest to do so, CSIS will always speak publicly about threats.”
Canada’s relationship with India disintegrated over the past two years, after Ottawa said in 2023 that Canada had evidence linking Indian government agents to the murder of Canadian Sikh activist. In 2024, the RCMP said there was evidence of a wider campaign of intimidation and violence.
Anand said she will continue to raise concerns by the Sikh community with her counterparts in India.
Some Canadian Sikhs are calling on the government to take a firmer stand on India, while Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal said on social media Thursday he firmly denounces the federal official’s remarks to reporters because they contradict assessments from Canadian security agencies.
Vincent Rigby, a former national security and intelligence adviser to the federal government who now teaches at McGill University, said it “strains credibility” to suggest India has stopped harmful meddling in Canadian affairs.
In Mumbai Saturday, both Anand and Carney put the focus on academic partnerships with India, appearing at an event focused on showcasing university talent and innovation.
Anand announced a new Canada-India strategy on talent and innovation, launched by Universities Canada and Colleges and Institutes Canada, which includes 13 new partnerships between Canadian and Indian universities.
Carney then toured some of the booths at the event, stopping to hear presentations and chat with the researchers.
Earlier in the day, he received a private tour of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya history museum, which included the textiles and painting galleries.
— With files from Jim Bronskill in Ottawa