Canada and EU draft plan to reduce reliance on U.S. in digital, defence and resources

MONTREAL · A draft statement ahead of a Canada-EU summit outlines new steps to deepen ties in digital infrastructure, defence and critical minerals while reducing reliance on the United States. The document, obtained by The Canadian Press, would grant Canadian companies the ability to bid on European cloud and artificial intelligence contracts. It also announces a joint purchase of 50 water bombers from Canada's De Havilland and finalizes a deal to facilitate European investment in Canadian critical minerals. The draft pledges to strengthen digital sovereignty by treating Canada as an associated country under a proposed EU digital act.

Patrick Leblond, an associate professor at the University of Ottawa, said the challenge will be to withstand potential backlash from Washington and sustain the cross-Atlantic partnership beyond election cycles. He said the current U.S. administration and future ones would likely oppose efforts by allies to reduce their dependence on American technology and markets. "The Americans, they're playing a power game. For them, if Canada and other countries band together in a way to reduce their dependence on the U.S., the current U.S. administration, and potentially others in the future, will try to prevent that from happening," Leblond said. "Divide and conquer, that's the power approach."

The digital provision follows a proposal last month by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for Canada to become the EU's first associate member. Wendy Gilmour of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute said European contractors often prefer Canadian firms due to restrictive U.S. export controls. She noted, however, that Canadian tech companies have been slow to look beyond the familiar American market. "There's been a slow take-up by Canadian business because Canadian business has just been so used to working with the American market," Gilmour said.

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The draft also initiates talks for Canada to join the EU's Galileo satellite navigation system, which has military applications. Canadian Forces currently depend on the encrypted signal of the U.S. Global Positioning System. Access to Galileo's secure signal for non-EU nations requires a formal agreement. The statement further says a deal has been finalized to make it easier for the European Investment Bank to fund Canadian critical minerals projects and for those resources to be exported to Europe.

Gilmour said the critical minerals measure addresses Canada's need for more diverse buyers and capital sources, aiming to lessen dependence on both the U.S. market and Chinese supply chains. It is also intended to spur more domestic mining and processing. "We rely too heavily on offshore processing," she said, pointing out China's dominant role in refining critical minerals. The joint purchase of De Havilland water bombers is pitched as a boost for disaster preparedness, with the aircraft slated for wildfire use by 2030.

A De Havilland spokesperson said the company was not engaged in the discussions about the bomber fleet. It is unclear if the proposed order of 50 planes is separate from 38 already ordered by several EU countries and Canadian provinces since 2024. The draft statement includes other commitments, such as new talks on Canada joining the EU's Erasmus student exchange program and a pledge to defend human rights globally. The Canada-EU summit is scheduled for Oct. 29 and 30 in Montreal, where Prime Minister Mark Carney will host von der Leyen and European Council president António Costa.

With files from The Canadian Press and BNN Bloomberg