Prime Minister Mark Carney takes questions during a press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra.Hilary Wardhaugh/Getty Images
Prime Minister Mark Carney has left the door open to Canadian military deployment as part of the widening conflict in the Middle East, if circumstances warrant.
He suggested, however, that these would be extraordinary circumstances aimed at supporting allies or defending Canadians and gave no indication any operations are under development.
Mr. Carney, who has already said Canada has no plans to join the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, was asked Thursday in Australia whether he could categorically rule out deploying military assets to the region.
“You’ve asked a fundamental hypothetical in a conflict that can spread very broadly. Today’s events, recent events point to that,” Mr. Carney told reporters during a Thursday press conference with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Canberra.
“So one can never categorically rule out participation,” he said.
“We will stand by our allies if it makes sense.”
Mr. Carney differentiated between the pre-emptive military action taken by the United States and Israel against Iran and later actions taken for other reasons.
“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 are not party to those actions,” he said.
“But we will always defend Canadians and we will always defend our allies when called upon.”
Mr. Carney speaks to members of the Canadian Armed Forces in Latvia last August.Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press
Mr. Carney initially voiced support for the strikes in Iran after they began on Saturday, but on Wednesday said he had done so “with regret” because the action taken by the U.S. and Israel was a failure of the international order.
He made his latest comments after delivering an address to the Australian Parliament, the centrepiece of a three-day visit to the country and the first speech to the chamber by a Canadian prime minister since Stephen Harper in 2007.
He told lawmakers there that the two countries are natural partners who must build coalitions to survive as the rules-based international order falls apart. Earlier in the day, Australia had joined the Group of Seven Critical Minerals Production Alliance, a critical minerals buyers club.
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The Prime Minister, who was welcomed at Australia’s Parliament by a 19-gun salute, also met with Mr. Albanese’s cabinet.
Speaking to Australian MPs and senators, Mr. Carney expanded on his January address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he talked of a rupture in the rules-based international order and the way dominant powers weaponize trade dependence to extract what they want from others through tools such as tariffs. It was widely understood he was referring to powers such as the United States and China.
The old system “was imperfect, but it functioned: keeping sea-lanes open, resolving disputes, growing trade and investment, narrowing the gaps between rich and poor,” the Prime Minister said in Australia.
“With that global architecture now breaking down from consecutive crises, I have come to Australia to reaffirm our alliance, and to suggest where we can go next,” Mr. Carney said.
He cited Australia’s agreement to become part of the Critical Minerals Production Alliance as an example of how middle powers must join forces to thrive.
“We are both blessed in the abundant foundational metals that power the batteries, EVs, smartphones, fighter jets, and AI systems of this century. We are the world’s critical mineral superpowers.”
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At the 2025 G7 Leaders meeting in Kananaskis, Alta., Canada set up the alliance, which is intended to help pay for and stabilize critical mineral extraction projects while avoiding restricting access to these resources on a preferential basis.
The alliance mobilizes public and private capital to accelerate critical mineral projects; secures offtake purchase agreements with allied countries and industry partners; and promotes standards-based markets for critical minerals.
Between them, Canada and Australia possess “one of the largest critical minerals reserves in the world,” the Prime Minister noted, producing 34 per cent of global lithium, 32 per cent of the uranium supply, and 41 per cent of iron ore, all backed by a “$25-billion war chest to fast-track projects.”
“Though we could not be physically farther apart, Canada and Australia are strategic cousins,” Mr. Carney told the Australian Parliament.
The Canadian leader’s visit to Australia saw him forge new partnerships with Canberra in not only critical minerals and artificial intelligence but also defence and security.
He cited a series of examples of middle powers working together, from the 32-country Coalition of the Willing that provides aid to Ukraine, to efforts to connect the 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership trade zone and the 27-country European Union, which would create a massive trading bloc that links Asia, the Americas and Europe.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomes Mr. Carney before he addresses the parliament in Canberra on Thursday.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Canada, which has a trade deal with the EU and is a member of the TPP, “will not directly benefit from these efforts, but we see the public good in creating a new trading bloc of 1.5 billion people, grounded in common standards and shared values, capable of anchoring a rules-based trading system even as the old one falters,” he said.
“The world will always be shaped by great powers. But it can also be shaped by middle powers that trust each other enough to act with speed and purpose.”
Mr. Carney turned to Australia shortly after taking office in 2025 when his government picked the country’s JORN over-the-horizon radar system to detect threats approaching from the north at ranges up to 3,000 kilometres, far beyond what line-of-sight radar can achieve.
In other agreements signed Thursday, Canada and Australia launched a new partnership to generate trade and investment opportunities in clean energy.
Canadian Armed Forces personnel will begin training on Australia’s over-the-horizon radar system in mid-2026, both countries said Thursday.
Also, Ottawa and Canberra launched discussions on a Status of Forces agreement that would make it easier to move defence equipment and personnel between the two countries.
Canada and Australia agreed to integrate their defence sectors by reducing export controls for shipments between countries, as well as jointly designing, developing, and manufacturing defence equipment.