Carney lays out Canada’s G7 summit priorities while managing a complicated guest list

With one week to go until G7 leaders gather in Alberta, Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced his priorities for the meeting and is managing a guest list that lays bare fault lines in some of Canada’s international relationships.

The G7 leaders summit will be held in Kananaskis from June 15 to 17. On Saturday, Carney said Canada will “seek agreements and co-ordinated action” on three core missions.

The first is protecting Canadian communities and the world by strengthening peace and security, countering foreign interference as well as transnational crime and improving joint responses to wildfires.

The second is “building energy security and accelerating the digital transition” through fortifying critical mineral supply chains and using artificial intelligence to boost economic growth.

Finally, Carney said Canada will push to secure new partnerships that will catalyze “enormous private investment to build stronger infrastructure, create higher-paying jobs and open dynamic markets where businesses can compete and succeed.”

Those international goals tie closely to Carney’s domestic agenda. 

WATCH | Carney and his Liberals table One Canadian Economy bill:

Liberals table One Canadian Economy bill to cut barriers, speed up trade

The Liberal government has tabled the One Canadian Economy bill, meant to reduce internal trade barriers and accelerate nation-building infrastructure projects, like pipelines, to strengthen Canada against U.S. economic attacks.

Earlier this week, the Liberal government tabled the One Canadian Economy Act — a bill it says will eliminate federal barriers to internal trade and explain how nation-building infrastructure projects will be identified and approved faster.

Many provinces are eager to take Carney up on nation-building plans, especially provinces ready to extract more critical minerals for their regions.

B.C. Energy Minister Adrian Dix said one project on his mind is the North Coast Transmission Line, which would expand the province’s electricity system and could unlock more critical mineral extraction in B.C.’s northwest.

“It’s a project that exists. We’re working with First Nations on [it] right now. That’s a significant project,” Dix said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live. 

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is pushing to use powers in his government’s recently passed Bill 5 to designate the mineral-rich Ring of Fire as a special economic zone, where cabinet can exempt companies and projects from having to comply with any provincial law, provincial regulation or municipal bylaw.

Ford put the Ring of Fire at the top of his list presented to Prime Minister Mark Carney for consideration as a potential nation-building project.

Tricky diplomacy with India, Mexico

Carney came under fire earlier this week when it was announced he’d invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit just months after the RCMP accused his government of acts of murder, extortion and coercion.

The prime minister defended the move and said on Friday that India and Canada “have now agreed importantly to continued law enforcement dialogue. So there’s been some progress on that.”

Last fall, the RCMP laid out allegations accusing agents of the Indian government of playing a role in “widespread violence” in Canada, including homicides, and warned that it poses “a serious threat to our public safety.”

That came after Canada accused Indian government agents of being involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian activist for Sikh separatism.

WATCH | B.C. Liberal says constituents ‘concerned’ over Modi’s G7 invitation:

Constituents ‘concerned’ about Carney inviting Modi to G7, says B.C. Liberal MP

On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney defended his decision to invite the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta just months after the RCMP alleged agents of the Indian government are playing a role in murders and other violent acts. B.C. Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who represents the Surrey riding where Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot in 2023, tells Power & Politics that his constituents are ‘concerned about the justice.’

The Sikh Federation of Canada called the invitation “a grave insult” and Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal, who represents the Surrey riding where Nijjar was shot, said neither he nor many of his constituents support Modi.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has also been invited to the G7 summit, but it’s not confirmed whether she will attend — a hesitation that underscores some diplomatic tensions after some premiers suggested Canada ditch Mexico and pursue a new bilateral trade agreement with the United States.

Arturo Sarukhán, former ambassador of Mexico to the United States, said Sheinbaum should attend because it would allow her to “reset relationships with Canada” and leave aside “the pissing match that Canadians and Mexicans have been in since the fall.”

Sarukhán also said on Rosemary Barton Live that Mexico’s attendance “would allow Carney and Sheinbaum to have a first sit-down with Donald Trump on neutral ground” to discuss a looming renegotiation of the North American free trade deal. 

When asked whether the North American free trade deal will hold up, Sarukhán said “probably the outcome of the process is that we will end up with two separate free trade agreements. One between the U.S. and Canada [and] one between Mexico and the United States.”

“That’s not a good outcome for future North American competitiveness if the U.S. wants to be successful in its recalibration of its relationship with Beijing,” Sarukhán said. “It needs Canada and Mexico for that recalibration to be successful.”