Türkiye is a 'vital partner' for Canada: Carney

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday described Türkiye as a "vital" ally for Canada within NATO and pointed to significant potential to expand bilateral ties, particularly in trade and industry.

"Let me reinforce a few things in it. One is Türkiye is a vital partner in NATO, a vital partner in a very important and sometimes challenging part of the world," Carney told reporters at a news conference in Vaughan.

Highlighting economic cooperation, he said: "In addition, there is tremendous opportunity. We have a series of opportunities to deepen our commercial relationships with Türkiye," noting that he had begun discussions with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in New York at the UN General Assembly in September last year and planned to follow up.

He added that cooperation could extend to "aspects of defense cooperation and nuclear cooperation" while stressing the broader scope of the relationship.

"I'll just make the observation that since we're here, Türkiye is one of the leaders in manufacturing globally, including advanced manufacturing," Carney said, noting that there are "areas where we can partner without question."

During the news conference, Carney also announced "a new, more ambitious sovereign path" for Canada's auto sector, unveiling a national automotive plan that includes $2.3 billion in new purchase and lease incentives to boost zero-emission vehicle adoption.

As part of the shift, the government is repealing the previous electric vehicle (EV) sales mandate and replacing it with stricter greenhouse gas emission standards for model years 2027 to 2032.

"We're tightening by twofold our (greenhouse gas) emissions standards, and we're giving the industry the flexibility on how they achieve that," Carney said.