No plans to invite Canada to join AUKUS: White House
U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says there are no plans to re-evaluate the makeup of AUKUS — a trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — to include Canada.
The creation of AUKUS was announced in September 2021 to help Australia develop nuclear-propelled submarines, as Indo-Pacific countries worked on plans to deal with an increasingly adversarial China.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Canada is not in the market for nuclear-powered submarines. Despite this, Defence Minister Anita Anand said last month the on matters involving quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and other technology, The Canadian Press has reported.
Meanwhile the Canadian military and other defence experts have raised concerns about Canada being shut out of AUKUS, The Canadian Press has also reported.
But in an interview with CTV’s Question Period airing Sunday, Kirby told host Vassy Kapelos that “people are kind of looking at AUKUS in the wrong ways,” by describing it as an alliance, or “some sort of club” as opposed to simply a “consortium to help Australia develop this particular military capability.”
“We’re simply focused on making sure that (Australia) can get nuclear-powered submarines,” Kirby insisted. “That's where our focus is … and there really aren't discussions right now or plans to modify the AUKUS arrangement in the future.
“I can't be perfectly predictive of where things are going in the Indo-Pacific, but that's what this is focused on,” he added. “And that's where our heads are right now.”
Kirby added that while the U.S. recognizes “Canada as an Indo-Pacific power,” and that “there's a key role for Canada clearly in addressing Indo-Pacific challenges,” that does not include membership in AUKUS at this point.
“I just don't have anything to say on that,” Kirby said. “In terms of what AUKUS could look like going forward, again, we’re really tailoring it towards this nuclear-propelled submarine capability.”
He added the security pact is “just not there yet” in deciding whether it will ever be expanded to include other technologies and capabilities.
Former Canadian national security adviser Vincent Rigby told CTV News that Kirby’s comments are “surprising,” in light of media reports that both Canada and New Zealand would be interested in joining a “second (non-nuclear) pillar of AUKUS” focused on other capabilities, namely in cyber and tech.
Rigby has raised concerns about Canada’s lack of membership in the security pact.
“It begs the question whether Kirby was only referring to the first pillar, focused exclusively on nuclear-powered subs,” Rigby wrote in an email to CTV News on Friday.
“If it turns out that the U.S. has shut the door completely to possible future Canadian membership in AUKUS, it will mean Canada will continue to be left out of a major partnership among Five Eyes Allies while also being denied access to advanced defence technology,” he also wrote. “On both counts, this would be a major blow to Canada.”
With files from CTV’s Question Period Senior Producer Stephanie Ha and The Canadian Press
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca ǿմý
BREAKING
Three men were injured after a man armed with a knife entered a Montreal-area Islamic cultural centre Friday afternoon.
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
The parents of a teenager who died after allegedly consuming the poisonous products of a Mississauga man are now suing him, as well as several doctors involved in her care.
11-year-old boy dies after subway surfing in NYC
An 11-year-old boy died Monday after subway surfing in New York City. He's the fourth person to die from subway surfing in the city this year.
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
Recall issued for 38,000 GM vehicles in Canada over software safety glitch
Transport Canada has issued a recall for 38,000 General Motors (GM) vehicles for safety risks related to a software glitch, the agency reported in a notice on Wednesday.
Top Hezbollah commander among 12 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday, vowing to press on with a new military campaign until it is able to secure the area around the Lebanese border.
Local Spotlight
Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.