Commentary
If the United States demanded that Ottawa consult Washington before Canada adopted “major policy or regulatory initiatives,” Canadians would rightly object. We elect Canadian governments to make Canadian laws.
Yet a leaked September draft prepared for this week’s Canada-EU summit in Montreal contemplates a partial surrender of Canadian sovereignty like the one described above. This document proposes regular summits, joint ministerial and cooperation committees, and “mechanisms for early consultation on major policy or regulatory initiatives” so that Canada and the European Union can “align more closely.”
The wording may change before Prime Minister Mark Carney meets European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa on Oct. 29 and 30. I’m told a subsequent revision already exists. But the leak is disturbing because it shows the radical direction in which Ottawa and Brussels want to travel….