LILLEY: Under Carney, Canada still doesn't matter on international stage

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On Monday afternoon, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived at the White House to meet with Donald Trump. Zelenskyy wasn’t there alone this time; he was joined by a long list of European and NATO allies all looking to help move towards a peace deal with Russia. 

One Western leader was conspicuously absent: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. 

The head of NATO, Mark Rutte was there as was the President of European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Britain’s Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Germany’s Friedrich Merz were all there. 

Even Finland’s President Alexander Stubb was present. 

Canada, a founding partner in NATO, close ally with all the countries in attendance, defence partner in NORAD with the United States and recent signatory to the Security and Defence Partnership with Europe was not invited. Instead, Mark Carney was in Ottawa meeting with Ontario Premier Doug Ford as Ford stopped by on the way to a speech. 

“I gave that advice yesterday in a meeting with President Zelenskyy,” Carney said when asked by reporters what advice he would have for Zelenskyy. 

Truth is, no world leaders should be asking for Carney’s advice in dealing with Donald Trump unless your goal is total alienation.  

“High level doors are being closed in D.C. to Canadian negotiators,” said a message from a source ahead of the meeting in Washington. 

In 1991, when Ukraine sought independence from the collapsing Soviet Union, it was Canada under Brian Mulroney that first gave that recognition among major Western countries. Canada’s voice, diplomatic and economic assistance at that time not only helped bring Ukraine along, it brought support from other allied countries. 

When Russia invaded Ukraine and seized control of Crimea, it was Canada’s voice under Stephen Harper that was the strongest in condemning Vladimir Putin. 

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Now, we are excluded from a meeting of this stature and the best that Canada can achieve is Mark Carney being on a Zoom call with Zelenskyy and a lot of supporters the day before. Part of this is the result of a decade of Canada not being taken seriously under the tenure of Justin Trudeau, but part of this falls on Carney and how he has handled things since taking power. 

He was regarded as a serious man — smart and thoughtful — and a breath of fresh air from Trudeau, an adult in the room you might say. Somehow, he has found a way to alienate Trump and the Washington establishment while at the same time leaving the Europeans indifferent to us. They want to partner with Trump while Carney pushes for a pivot away from the United States and towards Europe. 

“This was a very successful day,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told Fox News after the meeting. “President Trump is a pragmatic peacemaker.” 

The Western leaders stayed much longer than expected, including for dinner before Trump took time to call Putin in the middle of it. 

“Putin got an opportunity to get his two cents worth in in what was supposed to be a meeting of the Western leaders,” Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton told CNN. 

As much as I love John Bolton and interviewed him for years before he went anti-Trump — and the MSM decided to love him after two decades of hating him — we have to take everything he says now with a pound of salt, not a grain. 

The bottom line for Canada is that whatever was discussed at the meeting, Canada wasn’t part of it. 

We are no longer part of the international community, the collection of Western nations that matter. Under Trudeau, this may have been understandable, but under Carney, it was supposed to be fixed. 

Canada still no longer matters and that is on him at this point.