Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Antigua and Barbuda this week to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, with a focus on expanding trade and investment ties.
Carney will spend one day at the gathering, which runs from Nov. 2 to 4, attending a lunch and a formal dinner hosted by King Charles III, as well as executive sessions and other meetings.
“In a more dangerous and divided world, Canada is drawing closer to our Commonwealth partners,” Carney said in a statement.
“We are turning our shared values into shared strength, expanding trade and deepening climate co-operation to build a safer, more prosperous future for our peoples.”
Government officials said the meeting is a platform for Canada to expand trade, investment and strategic co-operation.
They noted Canada currently has $100 billion in trade with Commonwealth countries.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, who is also attending, said Canada “supports practical Commonwealth initiatives that strengthen supply chains and improve market access, that advance trade diversification.”
She added the Commonwealth has “ambitious targets” to increase trade among member countries to $2 trillion by 2030.
Carney has spent much of his time in office travelling to shore up multilateral relationships as he attempts to pivot Canada away from dependence on the United States.
International trade lawyer Barry Appleton said the trip is a test of that strategy.
“This is a test of Canada’s diversification for trade and its middle power strategy,” said Appleton.
“And this is one that Canada can pass. Traditionally, we were exceptionally strong with the Commonwealth.”
He said the real opportunity is to move deals already on the table with countries like India and the U.K., and to modernize a Caribbean trade preference program.
Carney is also expected to hold bilateral meetings, though officials declined to say in advance who he will meet with.
Antigua’s high commissioner to Canada, Ronald Sanders, said Carney will meet with Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne.
Browne will propose a bilateral agreement with Canada that “could see joint ventures and activities that promote economic growth and create commercial opportunities for Canadian enterprises,” Sanders said.
Before the opening ceremony on Tuesday, Carney will host a working breakfast with Caribbean leaders to discuss trade, climate action and regional security.
Rebuilding old alliances
Retired Canadian diplomat Patricia Fortier said the Commonwealth, with 56 countries from the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, North America and the Indo-Pacific, is like a “diplomatic feast.”
She said Canada’s ties with the Commonwealth, especially with smaller states, could help its diversification effort.
“If you’re trying to move things through a multilateral organization, it is very, very important that you pay attention to smaller states,” Fortier said.
“The Caribbean and Africa and some of the Pacific Island states can make or break your initiatives.”
Michael Manulak, an associate professor of international affairs at Carleton University, said Canada used this strategy successfully in the past under Prime Minister Lester Pearson and in the 1980s.
“One of the kind of core constituencies that Canada often operated on was the Commonwealth,” he said.
Sanders said there was a time when “Canada put up a candidate for a post in the UN and it knew it had 14 votes behind it automatically.”
That relationship changed as Canadian governments moved toward closer relations with the United States and Mexico.
“We would hope that we can rebuild that relationship now,” Sanders said.
Officials said there will also be a focus on resilience and mitigation related to climate change, a major priority for island states.
King Charles is expected to address the legacy of slavery at the meeting.
Officials did not answer directly when asked whether Carney will participate in those discussions.
Manulak said while the British are reluctant to accept blame for slavery and colonialism, Caribbean countries “naturally feel differently about this issue.”
The prime minister's trip follows his recent conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump about trade. e2gold.ca reported last week that Carney said they had a “good conversation” and their teams will work to deliver a deal.
This story was written by the e2gold.ca newsroom from reporting by The Globe and Mail and CTV News. Quotes are checked word for word against that reporting.