Ukraine summit snub of Canada likely behind Carney's Kyiv visit: Expert
Canada absent from last week's meeting in Washington with Ukrainian president, NATO leaders
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Canada’s exclusion from last week’s White House meeting of NATO members and the Ukrainian president was likely behind the prime minister’s surprise visit to Kyiv this week.
That’s according to defence policy expert and Macdonald-Laurier Institute senior fellow Joe Varner, who said Canada’s diminishing profile in global affairs is likely why Prime Minister Mark Carney chose to visit Ukraine on Monday.
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“The government was struck by the fact they weren’t invited to Washington,” said Varner, who previously served as policy director for former defence minister Peter MacKay.
“I think that, in part, drives the prime minister’s trip to Ukraine.”
Monday was Carney’s first official visit to Ukraine, kicking off a nearly week-long European trip where defence weighed heavily.
“We can certainly contribute to the Ukrainian need,” Varner told the Toronto Sun.
“They’re looking for almost $1 billion per month from NATO allies to support their war effort, so it’s good that Canada stepped up and provided aid to Ukraine.”
Canada was conspicuously absent at last week’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump — which included NATO chief Mark Rutte, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“Canada is not viewed as a reliable ally by a lot of our NATO friends, and certainly not by the United States,” said Varner.
“In terms of the global firepower index, Canada ranks 28th — we’re a G7 country, it’s ridiculous.”
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During his Monday speech in the Ukrainian capital, Carney unveiled details of a $2-billion defence package for the war-torn country as it deals with the now 3 1/2-year-old invasion by Russian forces.
More than $1 billion of that aid is earmarked for purchasing military hardware from the U.S. for use by Ukrainian troops with the balance going toward other equipment, including drones and electronic warfare, and joint investments between the two nations.
This spending was also likely prompted by Canada’s decision in June to finally meet NATO’s 2% defence spending benchmark, reversing Justin Trudeau-era policies of underspending on Canada’s defence.
Carney also suggested Canadian troops could be sent to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, but Varner said that’s easier said than done.
“It’s easy to say that we can contribute troops and I suspect that if there’s a peace agreement Canada would be there, but with the state of the Canadian Forces, it’s stretching the limit,” he said.
“(Canada) lacks people, lacks basic combat equipment that most western NATO armies have and we would be taking people from somewhere else in the system where they’re needed to do that — as things stand now, we’d probably have to pull people out of Latvia.”
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