Carney's Latest European Junket
Visit to Norway Serves NATO's Militarization of Arctic and High North
On March 12, Prime Minister Mark Carney made his latest trip abroad -- a 10-day trip to Europe, starting with a visit to Norway, followed by a visit to the UK. One of the aims of the trip, particularly to Norway, was to bolster NATO's militarization of the Arctic regions of North America (made up of U.S., Canada and Greenland) and the "High North" in Europe. Carney's trip came one day after he announced a $40 billion plan to militarize Canada's Arctic, setting the stage for these discussions with European NATO members.
On
March 13, Carney met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr
Støre and
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, in Bardufoss, Norway, the site
of the
NATO war game Exercise Cold Response. The Prime Minister's
Office (PMO)
noted that this Norwegian-led exercise, which ran from March 9
to 19,
involves
"approximately 30,000 women and men from 14 nations, operating
on land,
at sea, and in the skies of the High North. The exercise builds
our
shared strength and resilience in the challenging terrains and
waters
of NATO's northern flank -- in fjords, with sub-zero
temperatures,
limited daylight,
and deep snow.
"Prime Minister Carney underlined Canada's efforts to further strengthen its presence in the Arctic and High North to ensure the increasingly strategically important region remains secure. The leaders welcomed NATO efforts in this regard, including through enhanced deterrence."
Also discussed was the "continued instability driven by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine." The NATO countries continue to throw fuel on the fire, while claiming, as the PMO wrote, to stand for a "just and lasting peace, backed by robust security guarantees."
All such northern activities of NATO now take place under Operation Arctic Sentry, headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, as declared by NATO defence ministers at their meeting in Brussels on February 12. It is part of giving legitimacy to NATO disinformation about Russia and China to fuel stepped-up war spending and war preparations across NATO members and partner countries.[1]
During the remainder of his visit, Carney's activities prioritized joint war preparations with Norway "including their shared commitment to NATO, support for Ukraine, cooperation in the Arctic." Other areas of discussion included "energy, critical minerals, trade, emerging technologies such as space communications and security, and artificial intelligence (AI)," according to the PMO.
Also while in Norway, Carney took part in the Canada-Nordic Summit, where he met with leaders from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden "to reinforce efforts to strengthen transatlantic security in the North. In a joint statement, the leaders outlined the deepened partnership between Canada and Nordic nations -- in trade, technology, energy, and defence and security."
During his trips abroad and meetings with foreign heads of state during their visits to Canada, Carney continues to present access to Canada's natural resources, his government's pay-the-rich schemes and his government's program to militarize the economy as sound investments for European countries. The PMO writes that "Norway is home to the world's largest sovereign wealth fund with a value of over $3.5 trillion" and Carney "held meetings with business leaders to position Canada as a premier destination for international capital."
Despite all the discussions about "defence and security" the PMO did not mention anything about the U.S./Israeli war on Iran and its implications.
Meeting with UK Prime Minister
On March 16, Carney met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The PMO press release about the meeting states that they "discussed the situation in the Middle East. They condemned the Iranian regime's missile and drone attacks, including on civilian and energy infrastructure, and expressed deep concern over the toll on civilians, the risk of further regional escalation, and the broader global economic consequences of the conflict, including rising energy prices."
On matters of joint interest and cooperation, here again warmongering, war spending and war preparations were a major focus of discussions between Starmer and Carney. The two reaffirmed their "steadfast support" for the corrupt neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine. They also spoke about the Canada-UK partnership established in 2025 dealing with trade, AI, defence and critical minerals, including mechanisms to finance the massive increases in war spending and militarization of their respective economies, such as NATO's proposed Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.
Just before leaving for Europe, Carney had attempted to clarify his government's murky position on the U.S./Israeli war on Iran in Question Period on March 10, and said his aim in discussions with other countries, especially G7 members, was to promote "de-escalation and peace." Any mention of this was pointedly missing from the PMO press releases and news reports. By omission, the one consistent position the government is taking is to give its tacit approval of U.S. and Israeli war crimes against Iran, in total violation of international law.
Note
1. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Gruskho, at the time of NATO's announcement of its Operation Arctic Sentry, stated its significance as follows: "All peaceful instruments of cooperation are being deliberately destroyed, and the work of the Arctic Council, which was the main international platform for managing the situation in the Arctic and establishing cooperation, has been effectively blocked." He said that the rupture in diplomatic ties between Russia and NATO countries is being leveraged as a pretext to militarize the Arctic and transform it into a theatre of direct confrontation -- precisely when international cooperation is most urgently needed. "This has now been declared an arena of confrontation, where they want to confront not only Russia but also China," he concluded in his remarks to a local newspaper.
(With files from PMO, teleSUR.)
This article was published in
Volume 56 Number 3 - March-April, 2026
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/TML2026/Articles/M560317.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca