*First published in the Hill Times on October 6, 2025.*
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney must really believe in diplomacy.
Over the last six months, he has travelled to eleven countries, and some more than once.
First came France and Britain. Then the United States, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. He has been to Ukraine, Germany, Poland, and Latvia. He has mended fences in Mexico, met global leaders at the United National General Assembly’s annual meeting in New York, and returned to London to meet with others.
Next up will be Malaysia, South Korea, and South Africa.
Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has accused the prime minister of embarking on an “illusion tour” with nothing to show for his “globetrotting.”
And while his criticism suggests an overly simplistic, transactional understanding of international relations, the prime minister has failed to refute it as convincingly as he might have.
To put it bluntly, Canada no longer has any real friends in the world, it cannot prosper in the global commons on its own, and the cost of friendship has gone up significantly.
The Liberals campaigned in the spring on a platform to end Canada’s laggard status at NATO by reaching the alliance’s obligatory target of 2% of GDP spent on defence by 2030. Almost immediately upon taking office, however, they promised to do so immediately.
The decision was the first firm indication that the prime minister had grasped how far Canada’s international stature had declined.
Canadians should have seen this coming.
In January 2008, when the Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan recommended that Canada extend its responsibilities in Kandahar indefinitely contingent on NATO or other allies contributing an additional battle group in support, no countries stepped up. It was left to the United States to fill the gap.
Former European, Asian, and Latin American friends and allies actively opposed Canada’s campaign for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2010.
Small island and African states were hardly impressed when the Conservatives withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol and then the UN Convention to Combat Decertification, cut foreign aid, and boycotted the Commonwealth.
European countries were furious when Ottawa considered withdrawing from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and abandoned two NATO surveillance programs.
The disappointments continued under the Trudeau Liberals. Canada promised to recommit to UN peacekeeping but hardly delivered.
It imposed itself on a contested UN Security Council election to the frustration of its Irish and Norwegian peers.
Soon after, Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented diplomatic attack on Canada in response to a tweet by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was met by complete silence abroad. Former allies ducked when the two Michaels were detained by the Chinese government. And that Security Council election was lost.
The Trudeau Liberals hardly seemed to notice. Instead, the prime minister not only refused to meet NATO’s defence spending target but allegedly told the Americans that Canada never would.
Not much later, no one came to Ottawa’s aid when the Trump administration announced punitive tariffs on Canadian goods and threatened to annex the country. Nor was any country willing to join Canada in imposing counter-tariffs.
Seen in this context, Prime Minster Carney’s travels are about more than just trade agreements and security cooperation.
This is an apology tour, with a promise to do better.
Canada is a trade-dependent country with a small population and a limited national security apparatus.
It has a well-trained professional military, but a small one. Its foreign aid budget is significant in absolute numbers, but hardly so in terms of percentage of gross national income.
It had a reputation for being a reliable ally; but, apart from the commitment to Ukraine, that reputation has been devastated.
A once globally regarded foreign service has been ground down by a revolving cohort of foreign ministers, embassy closures, budget cuts, and a lack of clear and explicit direction.
Prime Minister Carney has to travel lest Canada be left even more alone than it already is. He has to commit to massive increases in military spending because that is the cost of friendship in an increasingly inhospitable world.
And he has to keep doing so, because his predecessors left the country in diplomatic shambles.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney must really believe in diplomacy.
Over the last six months, he has travelled to eleven countries, and some more than once.
First came France and Britain. Then the United States, Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands. He has been to Ukraine, Germany, Poland, and Latvia. He has mended fences in Mexico, met global leaders at the United National General Assembly’s annual meeting in New York, and returned to London to meet with others.
Next up will be Malaysia, South Korea, and South Africa.
Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has accused the prime minister of embarking on an “illusion tour” with nothing to show for his “globetrotting.”
And while his criticism suggests an overly simplistic, transactional understanding of international relations, the prime minister has failed to refute it as convincingly as he might have.
To put it bluntly, Canada no longer has any real friends in the world, it cannot prosper in the global commons on its own, and the cost of friendship has gone up significantly.
The Liberals campaigned in the spring on a platform to end Canada’s laggard status at NATO by reaching the alliance’s obligatory target of 2% of GDP spent on defence by 2030. Almost immediately upon taking office, however, they promised to do so immediately.
The decision was the first firm indication that the prime minister had grasped how far Canada’s international stature had declined.
Canadians should have seen this coming.
In January 2008, when the Independent Panel on Canada's Future Role in Afghanistan recommended that Canada extend its responsibilities in Kandahar indefinitely contingent on NATO or other allies contributing an additional battle group in support, no countries stepped up. It was left to the United States to fill the gap.
Former European, Asian, and Latin American friends and allies actively opposed Canada’s campaign for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council in 2010.
Small island and African states were hardly impressed when the Conservatives withdrew from the Kyoto Protocol and then the UN Convention to Combat Decertification, cut foreign aid, and boycotted the Commonwealth.
European countries were furious when Ottawa considered withdrawing from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and abandoned two NATO surveillance programs.
The disappointments continued under the Trudeau Liberals. Canada promised to recommit to UN peacekeeping but hardly delivered.
It imposed itself on a contested UN Security Council election to the frustration of its Irish and Norwegian peers.
Soon after, Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented diplomatic attack on Canada in response to a tweet by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland was met by complete silence abroad. Former allies ducked when the two Michaels were detained by the Chinese government. And that Security Council election was lost.
The Trudeau Liberals hardly seemed to notice. Instead, the prime minister not only refused to meet NATO’s defence spending target but allegedly told the Americans that Canada never would.
Not much later, no one came to Ottawa’s aid when the Trump administration announced punitive tariffs on Canadian goods and threatened to annex the country. Nor was any country willing to join Canada in imposing counter-tariffs.
Seen in this context, Prime Minster Carney’s travels are about more than just trade agreements and security cooperation.
This is an apology tour, with a promise to do better.
Canada is a trade-dependent country with a small population and a limited national security apparatus.
It has a well-trained professional military, but a small one. Its foreign aid budget is significant in absolute numbers, but hardly so in terms of percentage of gross national income.
It had a reputation for being a reliable ally; but, apart from the commitment to Ukraine, that reputation has been devastated.
A once globally regarded foreign service has been ground down by a revolving cohort of foreign ministers, embassy closures, budget cuts, and a lack of clear and explicit direction.
Prime Minister Carney has to travel lest Canada be left even more alone than it already is. He has to commit to massive increases in military spending because that is the cost of friendship in an increasingly inhospitable world.
And he has to keep doing so, because his predecessors left the country in diplomatic shambles.
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