“We are fully prepared:” Carney says Canada ready to defend Arctic

The prime minister says Canada and our allies are fully prepared to defend the Arctic.

Speaking alongside the leaders of Norway and Germany, Mark Carney was responding to questions about America’s lingering call to annex Greenland.

It comes as Canada and five other members of the G7 break ranks with the U.S. – saying they will maintain Russian oil sanctions while America is putting them on pause.

“We are fully prepared, individually and collectively, to defend the Arctic and the high north,” says Carney.

Mark Carney says Canada and NATO allies are ready to act, as he joined the Norwegian Prime Minister and German Chancellor to watch joint NATO exercises in Norway.

“This training exercise is to further build those capabilities against Russia, against any external threat,” says Carney.

The Canadian Prime Minister says that includes the Kingdom of Denmark – which Greenland is a part of.

The comments were prompted by a reporter asking if the dispute with the Trump administration over Greenland’s sovereignty has been settled.

“Any attempt to say that a country can take land from another country is unacceptable and especially something that should be unheard of among allies,” says Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

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The three leaders were also asked about another disagreement with America emerging today.

Six of the G7 nations disagree with the White House putting a 30-day waiver on American sanctions on Russian oil in response to price surges caused by the U.S.-Israel war in Iran.

“This is definitely not our view…we should put more pressure on Russia to bring this terrible war to an end,” says the German Chancellor Fredrick Merz.

Merz referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine – which the Kremlin helps fund by quietly shipping and selling its oil to other nations, in spite of a multiplicity of sanctions from many nations and world bodies.

“Canada’s position is to maintain sanctions on Russia, maintain sanctions including on the shadow fleet which is moving this oil,” says Carney.

Disagreements aside, American, European and Canadian troops are working hand in hand for ten days of NATO war games practicing the defense of the European Arctic.

Canada’s special operations regiment says the exercises are important.

“We’re learning a lot from our Norwegian partners because they really are some of the subject matter experts when it comes to operating in the north,” says Lt. Col. Robert Girouard with the Canadian Special Operations Regiment.

On Wednesday, the Prime Minister announced $35 billion in funding over ten years to strengthen the defense of Canada’s Arctic.

He says the money will be used to modernize and expand the military’s presence, including at forward operating locations in Yellowknife, Inuvik and Iqaluit as well as for a base in Labrador.

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