While National Newswatch does not keep an archive of external articles for longer than 6 months, we do keep all articles written by contributors who post directly to our site. Here you will find all of the contributed and linked external articles from Steven Chase.
Britain is in talks with Canada about joining the Canadian-led defence financing bank, according to a Canadian government source. The subject is expected to come up during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to Britain this week, which will include Wednesday meetings with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and a stop in Liverpool where the pair will watch an Everton Football...
Former banker Doug Guzman told staff in a mass e-mail Sunday that he remains chief executive officer of the Defence Investment Agency and has no intention of quitting, despite reports he was frustrated and ready to leave. Mr. Guzman took the helm of the new defence agency last November, and his exit after less than one year would have been...
Fewer than 16,000 Chinese-made electric vehicles have entered Canada since January under a trade deal struck between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of what Ottawa described as a “new strategic partnership” aimed at easing tensions and strengthening economic ties. That’s less than one-third of the 49,000 Chinese-made EVs that Canada said would be allowed...
Federal cabinet ministers will fan out across the country in the days ahead to reassure companies of support they can access during the escalating Canada-U.S. trade war, while Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office says his focus as formal talks with Washington remain stalled is on attracting investment and stimulating economic growth. Two sources said ministers such as Industry Minister Mélanie...
Canada has restarted military talks with China after a break of more than eight years that began with Beijing’s jailing of two Canadians in late 2018. The two countries held a “defence coordination dialogue” on Sept. 4, according to a statement issued the day after the meeting by China’s Ministry of National Defense. Beijing was the only side to publicly...
Former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland said Beijing’s new law claiming the right to prosecute people and organizations anywhere in the world for undermining its “ethnic unity” reminds her of the rationale Vladimir Putin used to justify his 2022 military assault on Ukraine. Speaking this week at a security forum in Taiwan, she called on democratic countries to unequivocally push...
Martin Cauchon, a vice-chair of the Canada China Business Council lobby group and former Liberal cabinet minister, is under consideration to be Ottawa’s envoy to China as both countries work to mend fractured diplomatic and economic ties, three sources say. Mr. Cauchon, a justice minister in Jean Chrétien’s government, has a long history of developing close business ties with China...
A senior Trump administration official is publicly criticizing the idea of a collective “middle powers” strategy among American allies and partners, warning it is a “distraction” that could cost them “time, money and political capital.” In a series of posts on X on Tuesday, Elbridge Colby, the U.S. Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, also pushed back on the idea that...
Prime Minister Mark Carney is playing down the amount of toll profits Canada will share with the United States under a new deal to open the Gordie Howe International Bridge, but his government is so far making no commitment to release the text of the arrangement. The new Windsor-Detroit crossing, along one of Canada’s most important trade corridors, is set...
A former government scientist faces criminal charges after allegedly downloading thousands of work files from the Department of Natural Resources to external storage drives to further a new career in China, court records show. According to a security report prepared by Natural Resources, the accused, 66-year-old Dennis Lu, has expertise in technology that can be used to purify graphite, a...
The Canadian government has selected Germany’s TKMS to build a fleet of submarines for this country, two sources say. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Prime Minister Mark Carney will announce the government’s decision in Halifax Monday — the outcome of a high-stakes competition between Germany...
The Canadian government’s foreign influence registry will come into force in early August, bringing into being a long-promised, long-delayed tool for tracking the activities of agents of foreign states. An order-in-council recently issued by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet reveals for the first time that the government has fixed Aug. 4 as the date. People and entities working on behalf...
Israel’s defence attaché is departing for home and will not be replaced at the country’s embassy in Canada – a sign, experts say, of an erosion of bilateral relations with Ottawa as ties remain strained over Gaza. Colonel Ilan Or is returning to Israel at the end of July, the embassy said. The responsibilities will be taken over by a...
Canada’s electronic eavesdropping agency conducted cyberattacks to disrupt the activities of online foreign criminals who were brokering the purchase and sale of precursor chemicals used to make the opioid fentanyl, according to its latest annual report.
A senior executive at German submarine builder TKMS says a joint proposal with Norway to supply 12 submarines for Canada would be more compatible with the country than a rival South Korean option, in part because the European vessel construction group’s working language is English. In a recent post on LinkedIn, the executive, Philipp Schön, said Canadians should consider which...
A trustee at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is quitting the organization’s board over an upcoming exhibit about the late 1940s displacement of Palestinians, saying its lack of vital historical context will stir up hostility against Jewish people. Mark Berlin submitted his resignation on Monday in a letter addressed to Marc Miller, Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture, and...
With less than two weeks to go until the formal review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, one thing has become clear: There will be no 16-year extension of the trade treaty on July 1. Mexico and the U.S. have already scheduled a third round of negotiations for late July, three weeks after the review date. Canada and the U.S. have...
Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says she will be meeting with four Chinese companies that are considering building electric vehicles in Canada when she visits China this week in an effort to attract investment to this country’s auto sector. The four companies – BYD, Chery, Geely and Shanghai Launch Automotive Technology – have been examining possible investments in Canada, Ms. Joly...
The Canadian government gave notice Thursday it’s introducing new legislation to stop the import of goods made with forced labour as the U.S. threatens new tariffs on foreign trading partners. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand on Thursday told the House of Commons that within days, the government will be tabling “an Act respecting the prohibition of the importation of goods...
Guerman Goutorov, a Canadian businessman who operates an armoured vehicle manufacturing company, has been hit with sanctions by the European Union for allegedly helping Russia in its war on Ukraine. The Canadian government, however, has not penalized or sanctioned Mr. Goutorov or his company, which is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, though Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand’s spokesperson told...
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said Canada wants to boost trade with China by 50 per cent in the next four years while protecting its national security interests, as she welcomed her Chinese counterpart to Ottawa. She made no mention on Friday of the fact a Canadian warship transited the Taiwan Strait days before Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s high-stakes...
A Canadian warship transited the Taiwan Strait that’s claimed by China as an internal waterway – in defiance of Beijing’s warning – days before a high-stakes visit by the Chinese Foreign Minister to Ottawa. The frigate HMCS Charlottetown made the trip last week, the Department of National Defence said Thursday. “On May 22, 2026, HMCS Charlottetown conducted a routine transit...
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Canada in late May, Beijing announced Friday, marking his first trip here in a decade as both countries work to cement a new partnership struck in January after a bitter trade war and years of strained relations. Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand plans to take Mr. Wang on a hike in nearby Gatineau...
The Canadian Armed Forces are asking military personnel in the National Capital Region to return some field gear, including vests to hold body armour, to address what the Forces describe as “critical equipment shortages” for deployed operations. A May 13 e-mail from National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa, obtained by The Globe and Mail, cites this inventory shortfall. It directs all...
A Canadian MP has arrived in Taiwan to meet President Lai Ching-te in defiance of a recent warning from China’s ambassador against further trips to the self-governed island by Parliamentarians from Canada. Beijing considers the democracy of 24 million people a breakaway province despite the fact China’s governing Communist Party has never ruled the territory since it took power more...
Defence Minister David McGuinty declined to say whether Canada would continue sending warships through the Taiwan Strait, weeks after China’s ambassador warned doing so would damage a new strategic partnership Prime Minister Mark Carney has struck with Beijing. Mr. McGuinty cited operational security as a reason for not answering. “Those are operational questions, security questions – I don’t get into...
Defence Minister David McGuinty said Canada could contribute a vessel, demining assistance or satellite imagery if a mission to secure the Strait of Hormuz proceeds. Mr. McGuinty, who wrapped up a defence and trade visit to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar on Thursday, said a condition of this support would be “a durable cessation” of hostilities in the vital...
Both South Korea and Germany are making final pitches for a lucrative contract to build 12 submarines for Canada, with Berlin dispatching its defence minister for another visit to Ottawa and the Koreans sailing their offered vessel 14,000 kilometres for a ship visit to Victoria. Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he expects to make a decision by the end...
A Senate bill headed for the House of Commons proposes to give the federal government explicit power to confiscate the assets of foreign states that are held in Canada, a measure that could help repurpose Russian funds for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Analysts say, however, that Prime Minister Mark Carney, with his majority in the Commons, will have to weigh the risks...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is shuttering a trouble-plagued Arctic naval facility, two government sources say – a project from the Stephen Harper era that was originally conceived as a major demonstration of Canadian sovereignty in the North. The Nanisivik Naval Facility on northern Baffin Island was first promised in 2007 by the Harper government, but cost-cutting later resulted in...
Canada’s spy agency says five countries, including China and India, remain the main perpetrators of foreign interference and espionage in this country despite all being singled out in a public inquiry into these activities. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service also identified Russia, Iran and Pakistan as countries that engage in foreign meddling and spying in Canada. In its 2025 annual...
The new “strategic partnership” that Prime Minister Mark Carney struck with China this year would be damaged if Ottawa sends more military vessels through the Taiwan Strait or if Canadian parliamentarians keep meeting with officials in Taiwan, Beijing’s envoy says. In an interview Thursday, Wang Di, China’s ambassador, said he’s optimistic about warming ties between Beijing and Ottawa but laid...
The success rate for basic training in the Canadian military has dropped to 77 per cent over the past fiscal year as the Canadian Armed Forces grapple with the impact of recruiting changes designed to boost enrolment, according to a leaked internal report. That compares with a historical average of 85 per cent, according to an internal January, 2026, report...
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed on Friday to closely coordinate their efforts as potentially turbulent talks commence on renewing a trilateral trade pact with the United States. The two leaders spoke Friday about the upcoming review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a readout. And they pledged “close coordination to...
After more than a decade of involvement, Canada’s special forces are dropping out of a U.S.-sponsored military exercise in Africa, with Ottawa saying it needs to reconsider where to deploy its resources. The decision to stop participating in the annual Flintlock exercise, a key Pentagon priority in Africa, could be a sign that the Department of National Defence is stretched...
The Canadian government says it has extended its bidding process to pick a submarine builder so the two entrants vying for the prize – among the largest defence contracts in this country’s history – can sweeten their bids. It’s an acknowledgment that Ottawa wasn’t satisfied with the economic and industrial benefits promised in the bids, submitted ahead of a March...
The Canadian government has given the two submarine builders vying for a massive defence contract an opportunity to revise their filed bids – a move that also provides the companies an opportunity to enrich the industrial benefits they would provide to Canada. Both South Korea’s Hanwha Ocean and Germany’s TKMS already submitted their bids weeks ago to meet an early...
Canada is talking to Britain, Japan and Italy about obtaining observer status in their joint program to develop a next-generation fighter aircraft. Ottawa is sending letters to all three countries formally requesting this, a senior Canadian government official said. The Globe is not identifying the source because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has committed to not proroguing Parliament in order to take control of House of Commons committees if the Liberals win three upcoming by-elections and form a slim majority.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday he still planned to attend a Liberal Party fundraiser co-hosted by a Liberal MP who cast doubt on reports of China’s human-rights abuses against Uyghurs. Mr. Carney also defended Canada’s efforts to block imports of goods made with forced labour as this country prepares to allow Chinese-made electric vehicles back into the market. The...
India would like to create a trusted traveller program with Ottawa that could ease access to Canada for Indian businesspeople similar to the NEXUS program for Canadians and Americans, New Delhi’s top envoy says. Dinesh Patnaik, India’s high commissioner to Canada, said such an arrangement could be part of the deepening ties between the two countries that follow from Prime...
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has left vacant for 10 months the role of a federal ombudsman whose job is to probe overseas human-rights abuses by Canadian corporations, and Ottawa says the once-heralded watchdog agency remains under review. The government is also declining to say whether federal budget cuts have affected staff who are responsible for enforcing Ottawa’s forced-labour import...
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada has not yet received requests from Persian Gulf states for military aid to help them defend against attacks from Iran. And, he suggested, these requests might not arrive. The Prime Minister spoke to journalists in Tokyo near the end of a two-day visit to Japan. Earlier this week, Canada’s Chief of the Defence Staff...
A developing alliance between Canada and Australia on critical minerals, which together produce significant portions of the world’s lithium and uranium, is the kind of coalition-building that middle powers should be undertaking in a fractured global order, Prime Minister Mark Carney says. His remarks form the latest chapter in the Prime Minister’s call to action for middle powers to work...
Iran’s deceased leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was “a force for evil,” Defence Minister David McGuinty said Tuesday as he defended the Liberal government’s decision to back U.S. and Israeli air strikes on Iran. Mr. Khamenei, 86, was killed in U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran Saturday, a pre-emptive attack that critics say may have violated international law. Prime Minister Carney’s government however...
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is sounding an optimistic note about the chances of reaching a deal soon to supply India with uranium as he landed in Mumbai Friday with Prime Minister Mark Carney to expand trade with the subcontinent. The Globe and Mail reported in November that Canada and India were putting the finishing touches on a 10-year deal worth...
Canadians currently view the United States as more of a risk than a partner, according to a new poll that finds three-quarters dispute the idea that our southern neighbour is a trustworthy ally. A survey by Nanos Research for The Globe and Mail took stock of deteriorating Canadian opinions of the United States after U.S. President Donald Trump’s first year...
Canada would like to see NATO’s new Arctic Sentry mission become permanent as part of a greater focus on the north for the Western alliance, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says. NATO announced Wednesday it has launched this mission to strengthen its presence in the Arctic as part of an agreement to defuse severe tensions within the alliance prompted by...
The German auto industry is keen on expanding its presence in Canada and is in the midst of discussions, Berlin’s economic minister says. Katherina Reiche, Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy, said the Canadian auto sector strategy laid out by Prime Minster Mark Carney last week “is very attractive” for Germany. “I can’t go into detail, but please take the...
The new submarines Canada plans to buy will not arrive with all the necessary equipment to operate under Arctic ice, meaning they will require modifications after delivery, the head of the navy says. Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee said Canada will need to add under-ice gear to the boats after they arrive, such as upward-facing sonar that can detect and map overhead...
Canada’s former top soldier says this country should keep its options open on the question of acquiring nuclear weapons. Retired general Wayne Eyre, who stepped down as chief of the defence staff in 2024, was speaking at a forum on Canada’s military readiness. He was asked by a moderator whether Canada in this age of geopolitical turmoil should develop a...
The departing Canadian ambassador to the United States said it’s unclear whether Ottawa, Washington and Mexico City will be able to conclude a scheduled review of the continental USMCA free-trade deal this year. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has already signalled it wants changes to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, including for all three members to more closely align on external...
Ottawa and Seoul have signed a memorandum of understanding intended to bring South Korean auto manufacturing and investment to Canada, according to a document reviewed by The Globe and Mail. The MOU stems from the Asian country’s campaign to win a multibillion-dollar contract to build up to 12 submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy.
India has long viewed Canada as the “younger brother” of the United States, slow to approve foreign investment and major projects, but this perception is changing under Prime Minister Mark Carney, the Indian high commissioner to Canada says. Ottawa and New Delhi are preparing to launch talks on a comprehensive trade deal as the Prime Minister makes plans for a...
Canada is planning to reserve preferential access to its domestic auto market for foreign automakers who build vehicles in this country under a new auto policy to be released in February, a senior Canadian official said Saturday. The official also said Canada gave advance notice to the United States of its Jan. 16 decision to part with Washington and slash...
Two Canadian MPs from the governing Liberal caucus have cut short a trip to Taiwan this week that would have overlapped with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Beijing aimed at patching up relations with China. They say they are returning home early “informed by advice from” the Canadian government. Liberal members of Parliament Helena Jaczek and Marie-France Lalonde were...
Ottawa has asked the governments of South Korea and Germany, two countries with companies bidding to build the Canadian navy’s next submarine, to facilitate auto industry production pledges in Canada as part of the pitches, a source familiar with the matter said.
Donald Trump’s military strike on Venezuela, his designs on Greenland and his government’s declaration of ownership over the Western Hemisphere together represent an existential challenge to Canada, Bob Rae, this country’s former ambassador to the United Nations said Tuesday. Mr. Rae said in an interview that Canadians would be mistaken in thinking they’re not “on the menu” too, meaning “the...
The Canadian government is in wait-and-see mode when it comes to Donald Trump’s military strike on Venezuela, a senior official says, as it tries to determine whether the U.S. President plans unilateral action in other countries. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Canada is in a particularly...
Canada and its allies must send a strong signal to the United States from a Paris summit on Ukraine this week that they do not support President Donald Trump’s flouting of international law through a military strike on Venezuela that seized its leader, foreign policy experts say. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday is gathering leaders of European countries as...