Carney seeks closer Europe ties to counter hostile US

MONTREAL, Sept 14: Prime Minister Mark Carney calls Canada "the most European of non-European countries," and while formal EU membership may be tricky, he is pursuing unprecedented closeness with the bloc to reduce dependence on a hostile United States.

Carney heads to Strasbourg, France, this week, where he will become the first head of government to attend the "State of the European Union" address on Wednesday, before delivering his own speech at the European Parliament the following day.

"Canada has many of the resources that Europe is very much short of, whether it's in terms of energy, whether it's rare earths (and) raw minerals," Cremer told.�"AFP