“Telling my boss I don’t need to show up for work today cuz I’m [European].” One X user’s joke set the tone as talk of a new Canada-EU relationship spawned a flood of memes, from long European vacations to cigarettes for breakfast. Another wrote: “If Canada joins the EU I’m taking [seven] weeks off work next summer.”
Canada is not joining the EU. What is on the table is “associate membership”, and the idea has plenty of Canadians paying attention.
How the offer came about
Canadian officials first pushed back on news reports of the possibility. Then, on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the proposal public. By Thursday Canada’s own vision was clearer. Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed her ambition and described an “alliance for the future” covering critical minerals, defence, artificial intelligence, energy, digital trade, research and financial services. He also asked for easier ways for young Canadians and Europeans to work, study and live on both sides of the Atlantic. “Canada and Europe are each strong,” he told legislators. “Europe and Canada are stronger together.”
The backdrop is a trade war with the United States. Talks failed to head off US President Donald Trump’s threatened 50 percent tariffs on nearly $20bn worth of Canadian goods, including machinery, textiles and hockey sticks, and both sides have since hit each other with new tariffs. Trump warned the EU against going ahead. “If they do that, if I think it’s at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things,” he told reporters, calling the idea “laughable”.
What the polls say
An Abacus Data survey from September 4 to 9, taken before the proposal was official, found 81 percent of Canadians in favour of closer integration with the EU while staying outside the bloc. Eighty percent backed deeper cooperation on foreign policy, defence and economic priorities, up six points since February. Positive impressions of the EU have climbed to 71 percent, while only 21 percent now view the US favourably. Asked whom they share more values and outlook with, 56 percent said EU countries and 16 percent the United States.
Abacus founder David Coletto said Canadians remain “angry and a sense of betrayal” over how the Trump administration has handled the relationship. He also said most people simply want “more agency, more control to make choices for themselves”.
Support has limits. For full membership it fell to 49 percent, with 30 percent opposed and 21 percent unsure. Among Liberal voters 64 percent backed it, against 33 percent of Conservatives, yet 70 percent of Conservative voters still liked closer integration from outside. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said “no EU taxes, no EU laws and no EU open-border immigration policies should be imposed on Canadians.” None of those measures has been proposed.
Voices in Nathan Phillips Square
Al Jazeera spoke to several people in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square on Thursday. Flight attendant Donna Gordon, who often flies to Europe for work and has seen its “efficiency” and “innovation”, welcomed closer ties given “the state of our negotiations with the United States right now, or lack thereof”. Riyad Choy, who works for a tech company in New York, liked the idea of living and working in Europe: “I want to be able to have that freedom of movement.”
Hydrogeologist Peter Van Driel called Canada culturally “sort of in between”, pointing to healthcare, gun laws, parental leave and vacation time. “We’re not as generous as Europe, but more generous than the States,” he said. He cautioned against chasing Europe only as a reaction to Washington. Retired legal assistant Nancy Tung wanted an “equal partnership” and asked: “Do we have to contribute a lot?” Narcisse Kakegabon, a band councillor with Long Lake 58 First Nation, saw new markets for minerals but worried about the US response. “We really don’t know what’s gonna happen,” he said.
The two sides are expected to keep working out the details, including at a Canada-EU summit in Montreal next month.
Sources
- Canadians warm to EU ‘associate membership’ proposal
- Canadians warm to EU associate membership' proposal
