Canada and France will deepen their defence and industrial co-operation through a new general security of information agreement, Prime Minister Mark Carney said while in Paris on Friday.
Carney made the announcement in a joint statement alongside French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palais de l’Elysée.
“Businesses in both of our countries are doing more together, in energy, defence, critical minerals and now in (artificial intelligence),” Carney said.
“What this means is an ability to exchange classified information between our defence, our space, our AI and our aerospace sectors.”
Macron said he and Carney are discussing trade, defence and security in a closed-door meeting, and he hailed Canada as a friend to Europe and France.
The meeting, which comes ahead of next week’s G7 summit, could be one of the last between the two world leaders. Macron’s second term in office is set to end next spring.
France, which is hosting the G7 this year, says the priorities for this year’s summit include addressing major geopolitical crises and G7 support for Ukraine.
Sen. Peter Boehm, who served as personal representative for prime ministers Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau for six G7 summits, said Carney’s pre-summit visit with Macron offers an opportunity for the two leaders to strategize.
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He added that Carney is expected to demonstrate “pragmatic diplomacy” at the international event, given how his Davos speech drew widespread international attention.
In that speech at the World Economic Forum in January, Carney said the world has entered a risky new age of great power rivalries and that Canada is working to expand non-U.S. trade in the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Boehm said the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains will be Macron’s tenth and final G7 summit as president.
Macron also said Friday that he and Carney are discussing how to protect children online, adding the two countries share the same objectives.
Earlier this year, French lawmakers approved a bill banning social media for children under 15. The idea of setting a minimum age for use of the platforms has gained momentum across Europe.
The Liberal government introduced its own online safety legislation this week. If passed, it would require social media companies to block access for kids under 16, though platforms will be able to obtain an exemption if they put sufficient safeguards in place.
Bill C-34, introduced Wednesday in the House of Commons, would also regulate the companies behind AI chatbots by imposing on them a duty to act responsibly. That includes measures to lower the risk of chatbots communicating harmful content and putting in place crisis intervention protocols for cases involving self-harm, suicide or violence.
Macron applauded the move on social media Thursday, saying, “Thanks for joining the movement.”
Looking ahead to the summit, Boehm said there’s always some carry-on elements from previous years.
“The discussions at Kananaskis on artificial intelligence, for example, and on the global economy will have an impact on the discussions at Évian as well,” he said.
A Canadian government official said this week there likely won’t be a comprehensive final communiqué from leaders at the end of the summit.
They predicted the assembled leaders will instead put out issue-specific statements throughout the event.
Boehm said the decision to publish several individual declarations, rather than one, is likely due to Trump.
“I think that’s a very big factor, because what’s the point of trying to get consensus when what you’re doing is watering down what you’ve got and then you’re not credible,” he said, adding that individual statements could address online harms, AI or various other global issues.
Boehm said the broader geopolitical scene will factor into talks at the summit, with a war still raging in the Middle East and with the world still grappling with the fallout from the Trump administration’s deep cuts to foreign aid.
France is Canada’s third-largest merchandise export market in the European Union and its fifth-largest source of foreign investment.
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