Canadian prime minister Mark Carney held a closed-door meeting with a group of 150 Irish business leaders in Ottawa on Monday, as he continues to pursue a strengthening of ties between his country and Europe amid the recent straining of relations between Canada and the US.
The group, which travelled to Canada over the weekend as part of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards programme, was granted a private audience with the former Bank of England governor and ex-Irish passport holder at the residence of the Irish ambassador to Canada.
It is the second time in as many months that the Canadian premier has visited the embassy.
Although the discussion was behind closed doors, Carney is understood to see Ireland as an important bridge with Europe. He is poised to visit the Republic over the coming months with Ireland set to begin its six-month presidency of the EU in July.
Among other things, he wants Europe to urgently ratify the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (Ceta) between Canada and the EU.
Irish ratification of Ceta was blocked by the Supreme Court in 2022. Last week, however, the Government brought legislation, already passed by the Dáil, to the Seanad that when passed will pave the way for Ceta’s ratification.
The free trade elements of Ceta, which included an abolition of almost all tariffs previously in place between Canada and the EU, have been provisionally in place since 2017.
In that time, there has been more than a tripling of trade between Ireland and Canada, from €3 billion to €10 billion annually, and a quadrupling of the value of Irish exports.
Carney has said he wants to “catalyse” 1 trillion Canadian dollars in investment over the next five years, and is keen to attract more Irish companies to invest in the country.
Ireland is Canada’s 10th biggest export partner with Irish companies supporting about 32,000 jobs.
Carney wants to double Canada’s non-US exports, and has looked to strengthen his country’s ties to Europe and pursue free trade agreements with other blocs.
Given the uncertainty over trade with a Donald Trump-led United States, it makes sense for Ireland to ratify Ceta at the earliest opportunity. For an open economy such as Ireland, the more free trade deals the better.
