What used to be seen as a half-joking remark is becoming an increasingly serious topic of debate. The Finnish president Alexander Stubb considers Canada a country that could one day become part of the European Union. “I can imagine a much larger EU; whether Canada will be part of it
Soňa Weissová
Most Canadians believe that Canada should consider joining the European Union. Would that even be possible? And what would it look like?
When Finnish president Alexander Stubb visited Canada last week, he drew media attention mainly by playing ice hockey with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.
“I think Finns and Canadians are quite similar,” he said. “We are calm, reasonable and even-tempered — except on the hockey rink. And when things get tense, we go to the sauna, take an ice bath and calm down,” Stubb said in an interview with CBC News.
The two centrist liberals are linked not only by their fondness for winter sports. They are also moving closer together on the global stage — given their unpredictable neighbours in the form of Russia and the United States, as well as US president Donald Trump and his disruption of the world order.
Trump’s verbal attacks and threats to annex Canada as the 51st US state have pushed Canadian public opinion and politicians more towards Europe.
“I think that in its overall character and fundamental values, Canada is so close to the European Union that the least we can do is create a very close strategic partnership,” Stubb said.
President of Finland Alexander Stubb: “I think Canada in terms of its hold, composure, its value base is so close to the EU that the least we can do is to forge a really close strategic partnership. I can envisage a much larger EU, whether Canada is a part of it or not, is up to… pic.twitter.com/N5ru6RMKVj
— Scott Robertson (@sarobertsonca) April 19, 2026
What used to be seen as a half-joking remark is becoming an increasingly serious topic of debate. The Finnish president also considers Canada a country that could one day become part of the European Union.
“I can imagine a much larger EU; whether Canada will be part of it is up to Canada to decide,” Stubb added.
How realistic would such a move be?
What the polls show
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney studied at Oxford, worked in London and speaks fluent French, although critics point to his strong accent.
Carney sees Europe as a model, and that is not only because of the rhetoric of US president Donald Trump, who also attacked him over his speech in Davos.
After being elected Canadian prime minister, Carney made his first foreign trips not on the American continent, but to the other side of the Atlantic.
According to him, Canada is “the most European of all non-European countries”, as he said in Paris and London.
The idea of closer ties between Ottawa and Brussels first appeared last year in the British weekly The Economist and has been gaining popularity since.
“It is a joke that has been around for a long time, but it was never a serious proposal. It has, however, become a real possibility as a result of Donald Trump’s election and the threat he addressed to Canada in a very explicit way,” Frédéric Mérand from the Department of Political Science at the University of Montreal said for Quebec daily Le Devoir.
On 11 March, MEPs adopted a report which, “in the context of global upheavals”, called for closer cooperation between the EU and Canada through full implementation of their security and defence partnership and by speeding up ratification of their Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Five days later, French foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot hinted that Canada could “at some point” join the EU.
On the same day, Finnish president Alexander Stubb, while out running, urged Canadian prime minister Mark Carney to “think about” joining the EU.
Polls show that Canadians would not be opposed.
