{"id":346697,"date":"2026-06-06T19:19:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:49:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=346697"},"modified":"2026-06-06T19:19:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:49:48","slug":"stephane-dion-says-canada-needs-more-diplomats-to-construct-ties-with-europe-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/06\/stephane-dion-says-canada-needs-more-diplomats-to-construct-ties-with-europe-national\/","title":{"rendered":"St\u00e9phane Dion says Canada needs more diplomats to construct ties with Europe – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Former foreign affairs minister St\u00e9phane Dion says Canada must substantially staff up its embassies in Europe and set deadlines for following through on the flurry of agreements Brussels has signed with Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Dion\u2019s comments come after Canada\u2019s former military chief said Ottawa must stop cutting back on diplomats to spice up defence spending.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese agreements and partnerships must not remain on paper. They have to be fully implemented,\u201d Dion told the Senate foreign affairs committee on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Ottawa, in Brussels and in European capitals, we now have work to do to make sure that commitments are translated into concrete actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dion was Canada\u2019s ambassador to France until January and in addition a special envoy for Europe.<\/p>\n

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Prime Minister Mark Carney takes part in a gathering with Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, in the course of the Canada EU Summit in Brussels, Belgium on Monday, June 23, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Sean Kilpatrick<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dion told the committee that Prime Minister Mark Carney was right to appoint a private envoy to the EU to oversee the varied agreements Canada has signed within the defence, trade and research fields \u2014 a move Brussels has emulated with its own envoy.<\/p>\n

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But he said there needs to be some extent person from either side who’s publicly accountable for each single agreement Canada has signed with Brussels since it\u2019s not clear how lots of these ambitious plans are bearing fruit.<\/p>\n

He noted that Canadian businesses are still not exploiting the complete potential of the CETA trade deal between Canada and the EU that took effect in 2017.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMy suggestion then is to make sure that for every signed agreement, there are two senior officials \u2014 one Canadian, the opposite European \u2014 who’re accountable for the implementation of those specific agreements, with specific objectives and deadlines,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dion said Canada urgently must staff up its diplomatic presence on the continent. He argued that peer countries have more diplomats handling fewer files and urged Ottawa to focus its foreign service cuts on the headquarters in Ottawa, relatively than missions abroad.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Press reported last month that Global Affairs Canada is disproportionately cutting positions based abroad, with rotational posts being eliminated at 3 times the speed of staff who’re based in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur resources are already underdeveloped for a G7 country and even compared with countries of lesser importance than ours,\u201d Dion testified in French.<\/p>\n

In remarks before a University of Ottawa panel on Tuesday, former chief of the defence staff Wayne Eyre called on Ottawa to rent more diplomats.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe now have to have interaction diplomatically to form those deep regional and country-specific knowledge and relationships. And I’d argue cutting diplomats is just not the solution to do it. We needs to be stepping into the opposite direction,\u201d Eyre said.<\/p>\n

In Wednesday\u2019s testimony, Dion also pushed back on an concept that has come up repeatedly as Canada has navigated a fraught latest relationship with america \u2014 that of joining the European Union.<\/p>\n

He called joining the EU a \u201cfalse good idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dion noted some EU countries still haven\u2019t fully ratified the 2017 trade cope with Canada and Ottawa can be joining a line of 10 nations in search of to hitch the bloc. Doing so, he said, would mean ceding sovereignty to Brussels and arguing over how provinces are represented there.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanadians won’t accept this lack of sovereignty,\u201d Dion said, adding such a move would require amending the Structure.<\/p>\n

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