Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney greets Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter's Basilica, following his inaugural Mass, at the Vatican, on May 18.Claudia Greco/Reuters
In his first trip to Europe since winning last month’s election, Prime Minister Mark Carney swept through the Vatican and Rome, meeting Pope Leo XIV, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other leaders as he promoted Canada’s revamped role as a sovereign economy less attuned to the United States, and as a country pushing for peace in Ukraine and Gaza.
During his visit, which began Saturday, Mr. Carney met Leo, the successor to Pope Francis, who died last month, in St. Peter’s Basilica after the pontiff’s inaugural mass. On the sidelines of the Vatican celebration, he talked to the prime ministers of Australia, Bulgaria, Latvia and the Netherlands, among others, and the presidents of Israel, Ireland, Paraguay and Nigeria.
His whirlwind tour also included meetings with a few leaders of other G7 countries, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Friedrich Merz, the new German chancellor, as well as U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, who was there representing the White House in President Donald Trump’s absence. Canada is to play host to the next G7 leaders’ summit, in Kananaskis, Alta., in mid-June and Mr. Carney was, in effect, laying out his agenda for the summit.
Ukraine will be a key topic at the G7. Mr. Zelensky wrote on social media of his meeting with Mr. Carney, which took place the day before Leo’s mass: “The key priority is to apply pressure on Russia in a way that compels real steps toward ending the war. We spoke in detail about which sanctions can be effective – including secondary sanctions, energy-related measures, and sanctions against the shadow [oil tanker] fleet.”
In a statement, the Italian government said the first meeting between Mr. Carney and Ms. Meloni “provided an opportunity to address the main international issues, starting with the war in Ukraine, reiterating the shared commitment for a just and lasting peace, and the ongoing efforts to restore stability in the Middle East region.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney had an audience with Pope Leo XIV following his inaugural mass in St. Peter's Square and met with world leaders in his European debut
The Canadian Press
Mr. Carney said that critical metals and energy and other materials that Canada produces in abundance will also be on the agenda. “Canada has what the world wants,” he said.
He also spoke with Cindy McCain, executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme. According to the Prime Minister’s Office, he reaffirmed his support for WFP’s work in Gaza, where Israel’s two-month blockade has put hundreds of thousands of Palestinians on the verge of severe malnutrition, or worse. He called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
Mr. Carney’s office said in a statement that he and Mr. Vance discussed existing efforts to secure borders and crack down on the flow of fentanyl, which the White House has cited as rationale for tariffs on Canada despite scant evidence of significant quantities of the drug being seized on the counties’ shared border.
The Prime Minister’s Office also said the two discussed efforts to “increase investments in defence and security, and find more areas of mutual co-operation.”
Defence and security were among Mr. Carney’s main talking points in Rome, though his messaging revolved around how Canada wants to make itself less reliant on U.S. weapons by forming defence partnerships with European Union countries. The attempted pivot toward the EU will come even if Ottawa chooses to stick with the F-35, the American fighter jet whose $19-billion purchase was put under review by Mr. Carney in March.
Speaking to reporters in Rome after attending Leo’s mass, Mr. Carney said 75 cents on every dollar in weapons spending goes to U.S. products. “It will make sense to diversify on defence partnerships, particularly as we spend considerably more on defence.”
He added that “it‘s prudent to diversify your partnerships when there are questions of sovereignty at issue,” an apparent reference to Mr. Trump’s obsession with turning Canada into the “51st state.”
Mr. Carney would not say whether the diversification campaign would see Canada buy a European fighter jet as well as the F-35, which is made by Lockheed Martin with some Canadian components.
Canada is legally and financially committed to buy only the first 16 of the 88 F-35s on order. The rest – or more – could be filled by any of three European models: the Eurofighter Typhoon (made by the Airbus-BAE-Leonardo consortium), France’s Dassault Rafale or Sweden’s Saab Gripen.
Mr. Carney mentioned the Gripen fighter jet as a possible Canadian purchase. The big advantage of the Gripen, which placed second in Canada’s competition for new fighter jets in 2023, is that Saab offered to build the plane in Canada, creating thousands of jobs. The Gripen is also cheaper to buy and operate, meaning Canada could purchase more of them for less money than the F-35s.
Even if Ottawa sticks with the full F-35 order, Mr. Carney said he would like to see Canada and Europe boost their defence ties in procurement and research and development.
On the eve of the Pope’s inauguration mass, he met with several European leaders, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, to discuss the possibility “to become a partner of what‘s called ReArm Europe. … If we become a partner of that, then we are effectively inside the European fence, as they are in ours, in terms of defence partnerships.”
Assuming that the United States will downgrade, or possibly eliminate, its presence in NATO, European Union countries have been ramping up their defence spending. An EC white paper on “defence readiness” published in March identified Canada, along with Norway and Britain, as important potential candidates to bolster the EU’s defence industry in a hurry − the ReArm campaign.
“Our co-operation with Canada has intensified and should be further enhanced, also to strengthen transatlantic security,” the paper said, adding that the partnerships would trigger “respective initiatives to boost defence-industry production.”
Mr. Carney said that Canada is “absolutely” making progress on diversifying its defence partnerships with EU countries and also Britain. He is due to leave Rome on Monday, after several more one-on-one meetings with other leaders who attended Leo’s mass.