'Heartland' and Hallmark movie, TV star Cindy Busby highlights the beauty of 'Canadians telling a Canadian story'

Montreal-born actor Cindy Busby became a household name for many when she landed the role of Ashley Stanton on the beloved Canadian show Heartland. The love for Busby only grew when she began starring in Hallmark movies, including Hallmark's very first series Cedar Cove, working alongside Andie MacDowell, and she even worked with a young Sydney Sweeney in a thriller.
For Busby, performing was something she always felt like she was "born to do." But things really became clear for the actor in high school.
"[In] my graduating yearbook I said I was going to be a professional actor and people were like, 'What's your backup plan?' ... There's no backup plan, this is it," Busby told Yahoo Canada. "And I think a lot of that was a little bit naive, to be honest."
From high school plays Busby transitioned to the theatre program at Dawson College in Montreal, a different path from some actors who might go straight into finding an agent, and auditioning for roles in TV shows and movies.
"Although I probably could have propelled myself into just auditioning and getting an agent, and doing that right out of the gate, I just didn't really know any better, because I didn't grow up in a family that was in the movie industry," Busby said.
The actor is quick to admit it wasn't all "sunshine and rainbows" pursuing a professional acting career, from trying to get enough work to make a living, to navigating so many auditions, but she had the "perseverance" to keep going.
As Busby described, she graduated from college in 2003, and 2004 was really the year she dove deep into her career, but stressed that there were a lot of ups and down as she started auditioning regularly.
"It took me a couple years to really navigate and figure out what the heck I was doing and how to audition, because in theatre school, we learned a little bit about auditioning for movies and television, but it wasn't as in dept," she said. "I feel like it's one of the greater lessons, is never having attachment to that moment you think is going to be the moment, because you just never know."
While Busby can now be seen in When Hope Calls, and maintains an active YouTube channel, looking forward in her career, one thing Busby wants to do is a "full blown comedy," something like Bridesmaids.
"I love making people laugh. I love laughing. I love being silly. I love sacrificing my own pride to just make someone laugh. I just love being ridiculous," she said. "I always like to bring comedy to everything I do, to some capacity, because I think it's kind of what grounds us in a lot of ways."
"And I wouldn't mind doing a really kind of gritty indie movie, like something just that evokes thought and emotion, and just offers a bit of reflection on life."
Busby worked with Back to the Future and Some Kind of Wonderful star Lea Thompson in the 2007 TV movie A Life Interrupted, a film about Debbie Smith's sexual assault case.
With Back to the Future being Busby's "favourite movie of all time," the actor was particularly excited about working with Thompson.
"I'll never forget it, I walked into my costume fitting and usually in a production office there's the photos of the actors who are playing what part, and I just remember looking at the photos and seeing mine, and then looking at the woman playing my mom and my jaw dropping," Busby recalled. "And looking at the costume designer and being like, what's happening here? She's like, 'Oh, Leah Thompson, she's playing your mom, Debbie.' ... And I was just like, playing it cool. I just remember going home and calling my mom and being like, 'Mom, you're never going to believe this!'"
"[Lea Thompson] did not disappoint. First of all, she's the sweetest human. So talented, cares so much. And I think it was like on day three when I told her that I was a massive Back to the Future fan and she was so welcoming of that, and she was like, oh my gosh, those were the days, that movie changed my life, my trajectory. And she would give me anecdotes of her time on set. I just loved it and held on to it. And actually later on, when I ended up getting my visa and my green card, she actually wrote a letter of recommendation for me. ... In a lot of ways, she was a very important person for me in my career. But also, just someone I looked up to and it was really a full circle moment."
The CBC hit Heartland is Canada's longest running one-hour drama, entertaining fans since 2007. Busby plays Ashley Stanton on the show, starting as a high school mean girl, moving on to exploring her relationship with her mother, to the journey of Ashley and Caleb (Kerry James). While starring in the show for Season 1 to Season 4, Busby returned in Season 7, and again in Season 18.
"Heartland was a show that just truly changed my life in so many ways," Busby said. "It was the first role ... where I got to work consistently, and for months on end, and it wasn't like a full-time gig, but it was enough."
"It ended after four seasons and I was just kind of ready to do other things, or try other opportunities, and because it was such a commitment it was difficult for me to do other jobs while I was doing that. But it's always been like my baby, in a lot of ways. It's like my achilles heel. ... The fan base is just so loyal and so massive all over the world, on Netflix, worldwide."
Speaking about her return to the show, Busby was incredibly excited to come back, but she did have to think hard about playing Ashley Stanton again.
"I'm going to be honest, I really had to think about it, because part of me was like, have I outgrown this role? ... Can I still show up and do the character justice? Which is the most important thing to me, and not just do something because it comes my way, but do it for the the right reasons," Busby said. "I sat with it and I watched some of my episodes from the past, and that was kind of nice to go back in time, and then I was like, you know what, I'm going to do this for the fans."
"Anyone who goes on my Instagram will see the number one question I ever get asked is, 'Are you ever coming back on Heartland?' And it's like an ongoing joke with my friends and my family, because the fans are so passionate about it, which is the most incredible feeling, because it just shows that I did the character justice, and people loved her. She was the character that everyone loved to hate, and hated to love, and all that stuff. So it was really special to get to go back and just to get to work with my friends. And because that show was such a monumental moment for everyone involved, it's kind of bonded us for life, where I felt so welcome, so loved. When I was on set, everyone was so excited to see me, and I was so excited to see them. It was really special. I definitely came back home after that experience on cloud nine, because it was just fun. It was like getting to go to a high school reunion."
When Busby reflects on what has really resonated with people about Heartland, she stressed that, first and foremost, it was "Canadians telling a Canadian story."
"So many American productions come to Canada, which we're all so grateful for, because it gives incredible jobs, but to be able to tell Canadian stories and show the most beautiful parts of Canada is truly magnificent. ... It's a beautiful show that really shows off Canada, which I'm super proud of. We actually use Canadian money in the show, that's really cool!" Busby said. "And to be able to have family-friendly content is something that I think, at the time when it came out, there wasn't necessarily a lot of."
"And then, ... what I've come to realize is there is a massive love and appreciation for any story that has to do with horses. ... People love those stories, they can't get enough of them. ... A lot of times the stories are done in a period piece, ... but this one takes place in present time. So I think that makes it even more special. And there is a huge horse culture out there that, whether it's in Alberta, whether it's in Texas, whether it's in Montana, there's some everywhere, and it's a really beautiful thing that brings people together, and they bond over that."
While Busby now has an impressive list of Hallmark projects under her belt, the first one was Cedar Cove, the first series from Hallmark. Coming in midway through the second season, she played assistant district attorney Rebecca Jennings.
But before Busby landed the show, she had auditioned for Hallmark projects when she was living in Vancouver, but for some reason none of those auditions resulted in a job.
"I remember thinking, why have I not booked one of these projects?" Busby said. "Like, look at my face. I feel like I'm 'Girl Next Door,' ... and for some reason it just wasn't working. And then I ended up booking Cedar Cove."
But while Cedar Cove was history-making for Hallmark, Unleashing Mr. Darcy is what Busby identified as the project that "completely changed the trajectory" of her career.
"It put me in a lead perspective and it, to this day, I think is one of the most popular movies they've ever created on the network," she said. "A lot of that maybe has to do with the fact that we have so many cute dogs in the movie, and a lot of us were all fresh faces on the network. There was myself, I'd never been a lead on a movie. There was Ryan Paevey, who'd never been a lead on a movie, but was a beloved soap actor. ... It was just a fresh movie with a fresh twist on a beloved book, 'Pride and Prejudice.'"
"And then after that, movies just kept coming my way, and leads. And I'm forever grateful for those opportunities, because ... it levelled me up in my career and in my craft."
Before we saw Sydney Sweeney in The Handmaid's Tale, Euphoria, The White Lotus, and Anyone But You, she worked with Busby in the TV movie The Wrong Daughter. Busby plays Kate, who wants to connect with the daughter she placed for adoption years ago, but things take a dark turn.
"When I worked with [Sydney Sweeney], she had just finished a couple really big projects that were undoubtedly going to propel her to some sort of stardom," Busby said. "But you just never know in this industry, and there's so many talented, beautiful people that just don't make it, ... and it's been truly incredible to see her [career]."
"I'll be driving down Sunset Boulevard here in L.A. and I'll just see her on a massive building. ... And the girl that I knew in that movie, who I'm sure she still is to this day, is just a down to earth sweetheart, so smart. When I worked with her ... she was working her butt off and was going to school full-time, and we got along really well. ... We had like every scene together, so we had a lot of conversations about life and boys and school and troubles and the industry, and all that. ... I'm just so excited for her and happy that things worked out the way they did. I hope that she's happy with it."
Then Busby was part of another interesting Hallmark evolution, the Unwrapping Christmas movies, where each leading woman had her own film, but with each character showing up in all four stories. Busby led Unwrapping Christmas: Olivia's Reunion.
"I feel like it highlighted each person's journey and how everyone fit into each other's journey," Busby said. "We each individually shot our movies and then we did crossover scenes. So any of the scenes that we had together in our movies, we shot over a period of six days."
"I didn't know any of the ladies going into it, so I had to use a lot of my imagination, and as I usually do, I immediately messaged all three of them and was like, 'Hey, welcome aboard! So excited to get to know you!' And just trying to create a bond with them before we actually met, so that I had something to work off of as an actor. And then when we met on set ... we immediately were like, 'Whoa, we would actually be really good friends in real life,' and we were all so different."
But it was the differences in each story that really appealed to Busby.
"You want to be able to show different women who have different personalities and different things, but they come together," she said.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Cosmopolitan

an hour ago

• Cosmopolitan

Renata Ford's life is totally different now: the Mayor of Mahem's wife today

Netflix's most recent addition to its Trainwreck documentary anthology, Trainwreck: The Mayor of Mayhem, takes a look at the tumultuous life of Rob Ford, the controversial former Mayor of Toronto who found himself caught up in a substance abuse scandal in 2013 – after a video of him allegedly using crack cocaine surfaced. Known for his larger-than-life personality and a political career that spiralled into chaos, Ford's story is one of public intrigue and personal tragedy, least not because of the impact his drug use had on his family, including his now-widow, Renata Ford, and their two children, Stephanie and Doug. As well as detailing the Canadian politician's rise and fall, Trainwreck: The Mayor of Mayhem, offers a compelling look at fame, power, and the price of public scrutiny. Here's everything you need to know about Renata Ford, her relationship with larger-than-life Rob Ford, and where she is today. Born Renata Brejniak, Renata Ford was the wife and is now the widow of Rob Ford, who served as the mayor of Toronto from 2010 to 2014. In 2013, reports circulated that he was using crack cocaine, something he went on to firmly deny during a press conference, but later transpired to be true. The pair knew one another from high school – they both attended All Saints Roman Catholic Church in Etobicoke – but prior to their marriage Renata was initially wed to someone else. When that relationship ended, she and Rob started dating in the mid-1990s and the pair married in August 2000. While on the outside, the Fords may have seemed like the ideal close-knit family, raising two children together – a son, Doug, and a daughter, Stephanie – sadly this doesn't seem to be the case. Once Rob Ford launched his mayoral campaign, the press unearthed a previous impaired driving conviction from 1999, possessing marijuana (which he described as a mistake), drunkenly swearing and yelling at a couple at a hockey game and further incidents. One member of the public described him as a "loose cannon" in Trainwreck: The Mayor of Mayhem, and despite the spilt in opinion he went on to win the election. It's also reported that in 2008, a 911 call was made from the Ford family home and that Rob was accused of threatening to kill Renata, however a judge later ruled that "there was no reasonable prospect of conviction" due to "credibility issues" and the case was dismissed. In a later statement, Rob said he and his wife were seeking counselling to help their marriage. Police were called to the Ford family home again in October and December 2011, 2012 and in August 2013; none of these callouts resulted in any charges. Rob Ford first ran for mayor in 2009, previously working as a councillor ward of Etobicoke North, and was successful – his family, including his father, Doug Senior, and brother, Doug Junior, were also in the political sphere. His campaign saw him pledge to end the 'gravy train' for corrupt politicians, but he was later accused of several wrongdoings himself. In 2013, Mayor Ford was found guilty of a conflict of interest involving sponsorship of a football team he coached, with the punishment set to be removal from office. He told media and supporters that he was a victim of the left wing press which wanted him out of office and vowed to "fight tooth and nail to hold on to my job]. After an appeal, the court decided he could remain in office. Later, a bigger scandal hit his career: after accusations of a drinking problem, reports surfaced that a video existed showing Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine. Initially, Rob denied the allegations, dismissing them as baseless attacks from political opponents, despite them ultimately being confirmed as true in October 2013 by Toronto police. The case highlighted the mistrust Canadians had in the local press at the time. However, as more evidence came to light, Rob Ford eventually admitted to using crack cocaine while "in a drunken stupor". Naturally, this led to widespread criticism and calls for his resignation, yet he refused to step down, citing his commitment to serving the people of Toronto. Throughout this tumultuous period, further embarrassing videos emerged, including one of him drunkenly ranting to himself. Rob also referenced his sex life with Renata, who seemingly stood by him throughout, when denying allegations he offered a staffer oral sex, saying, "The last thing is, [staffer's name] said I want to eat her p*ssy. I've never said that in my life to her. I would never do that. I'm happily married and I've got more than enough to eat at home." After this, he continued to run for office again but unfortunately was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. His brother, Doug Ford, decided to run for the top spot in his place and Rob instead ran for councillor. Following Rob's death in 2016 due to a rare form of cancer, his wife Renata retreated from the public eye. However, she made headlines again in 2018 when she filed a lawsuit against her brother-in-law, Doug Ford, now the Premier of Ontario, alleging he'd reorganised the family business to his advantage and deprived her, and her two children, of money. This same year, it was also reported that Renata was also sentenced to 100 hours of community service for an impaired driving conviction (drunk driving incident) that took place in December 2016. In the lawsuit against her in-laws, Renata alleged mismanagement of the family business and estate, claiming that she and her children were being deprived of their rightful inheritance after Rob passed away. Doug denied the allegations, saying he had "broken down brick walls to take care of" Renata. The law firm representing Renata later said (via National Post) she had not paid her legal fees on time in relation to the case, of which the outcome has not been made public. As per a CBC article, Renata appears to have entered into the political fray herself in 2019 as a candidate for Maxime Bernier's People's Party of Canada, but sadly she lost out. Speaking at the time, she acknowledged having lived a tumultuous life in the public eye. "After a period of trials and tribulations, I'm healthier, and I'm more ready than ever," she said. "The time is right for me now to run to be a member of Parliament." As of now, Renata lives a relatively private life, a far cry from the intense media scrutiny she faced during the height of her husband's scandals and mayorship. Judging from a Facebook profile under her name and which posts many photos of a woman who looks like Renata, it appears she is a hardcore Trump fan who posts conspiracy theories about nuclear war plans linked to chemtrails, anti-vaxxer content and more.

Chicago Tribune

6 hours ago

• Chicago Tribune

Clean energy job training offers hope to hundreds: ‘It's changed my life'

Jordan Foley ticks off what he didn't have when he started an intensive 13-week solar job training program on the West Side: money, a bed, clothes, food. The fear that the program wouldn't be able to help him was intense, but Foley, 31, pressed on, learning the math, science and construction skills needed to wire and install rooftop solar panels. He took tests, drew up blueprints and did daily physical training: pushups, jumping jacks and solar-panel carrying exercises. And in April, his hard work paid off. He landed a job as a project administrator for a clean energy company. 'It's changed my life,' Foley said of the training program. 'It's definitely changed my life for the better.' Foley is part of the first big wave of state residents to benefit from a long-awaited network of clean energy job training hubs established under Illinois' ambitious 2021 climate law, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. The inclusion of job training was a major demand of environmentalists and their allies, who were determined to see Black and Latino communities share in the benefits of the clean energy economy. Eleven of 16 major training hubs statewide are now up and running, training hundreds of people. 'This moment is massive,' said Juliana Pino, interim co-executive director at the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. 'It's really significant because before the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, communities had to fight very hard to even have (access to job training) be respected and understood.' There were 541 students enrolled in the workforce hub training classes in mid-May, and 94 who had already graduated, according to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. The program is state-funded, so it's not directly affected by President Donald Trump's attacks on renewable energy, but if opportunities in the field diminish, that could hurt graduates' job prospects, advocates said. Republicans in the U.S. Senate are currently working on a tax bill that would slash clean energy tax credits for businesses, homeowners and consumers. The House passed a similar measure last month. Among those eligible for the free training, which comes with a stipend and support services, are energy workers who have lost their jobs, people who have been in the foster care system, people who live in communities disproportionately burdened by pollution, and those who live in communities with high crime and incarceration rates. 'You're bringing in hundreds — and thousands — of people into the middle class,' said A.J. Patton Sr., CEO and managing partner of 548 Enterprise, the parent group to the nonprofit 548 Foundation, which runs the workforce hub where Foley trained. 'This is not just a workforce program. This is a public safety program. If I can take somebody off the corner and hand them a solar panel, I've changed their life,' Patton said. Under a sky hazy with Canadian wildfire smoke, 30 men and women in hard hats and neon construction vests pored over solar panels mounted on mock roofs they had built themselves. The students were considering wiring configurations, screwing in cables and responding to questions from solar master trainer Sam Garrard. In about a week, when the course at the 548 Foundation's West Side workforce hub at St. Agatha Catholic Church will conclude, the students will be able to install a solar array for a house, a car or a shop, Garrard said. 'Now they're just (taking) all their book knowledge and their hands-on knowledge that they've acquired and using it,' he said. The atmosphere was intense but supportive, with trainees calling craft-instructor manager Keith Lightfoot 'coach' and responding instantly on the one occasion when he sternly uttered a single word — 'Language!' — in response to an expletive. Among the challenges: Students have to do the math for solar arrays and learn the details of electrical wiring, according to graduate Cortez Heard, now a solar installer for a local clean energy company. 'It definitely did get challenging, but as a young man, you've got to understand it's going to be tough, and if you are ready for what you want to do, it's game on,' said Heard, 27, of Chicago. Such job training opportunities are the product of a long, hard fight in Illinois — one that can be traced back to the state's previous climate law, the Future Energy Jobs Act of 2016. The 2016 law was, in many ways ahead of its time, but it delivered some tough lessons to community organizers trying to make sure that Black and brown residents got their fair share of new jobs. 'We got our tails kicked by labor,' with many jobs and opportunities going to the relatively white construction trades, said Tony Pierce, co-pastor of Heaven's View Christian Fellowship church in Peoria and board president of Illinois People's Action, a multi-issue faith and community organization in Bloomington. The next climate bill, environmentalists and organizers vowed, would be different. They partnered with churches and social service organizations to hold community meetings across the state and hammer out a vision for what the clean energy economy should look like. Again and again, organizers heard the same thing from communities, Pino said: 'We don't want (clean energy) to be just a replica of other new industries that show up in our neighborhoods, don't give us meaningful access, and we ultimately don't see the benefits.' There was even a rallying cry: 'No climate, no equity, no deal.' In the end, Gov. JB Pritzker, a strong supporter of climate action, stepped in to help get the bill across the finish line, and the environmentalist coalition won big. The new law not only set a goal of 100% clean energy by 2050 but invested heavily in job training for people and communities that might otherwise be left behind. There are multiple workforce training programs under the Illinois climate law, including ones for people seeking union apprenticeships and for people in prison, but the workforce hubs program is the largest, and its progress has been closely watched. More than $30 million in climate-law funding has already been awarded to the workforce hubs, according to the state. Foley was basically homeless when a friend who works at the 548 Foundation told him about the solar job training program. He received a stipend for attending, and within a few weeks his caseworker was able to find him a small room to rent and even a brand-new bed to sleep in. 'That was a blessing,' he said. 'From there, I took full advantage of the program.' There were challenges: A relative died; not long after, another relative also died suddenly and prematurely. And then there was his fear of simply finishing the program. 'I didn't understand what could come from it,' Foley said. 'I was more afraid of, 'What happens when you have to go back to being hungry? What happens when you put in all of this energy, all of these days, and there is no (one) that wants to hire you?' I was very terrified of that.' Foley said he almost didn't take the final certification test, relenting only when Felicia Nixon-Gregory, the director of training and workforce development, sat down and talked with him. And then, when he graduated, it was into a dark December for clean energy. Winter, in general, isn't a good time to get hired for solar installer jobs in Illinois, and after President Donald Trump was elected in November, some clean energy employers took a wait-and-see approach to hiring. The 548 Foundation workforce hub solar training program initially had a job placement rate of 85%, which then dropped to about 50% and was inching back to 80% by mid-May, according to Patton. After he graduated, Foley found himself struggling to get paid what he was owed for short-term jobs. Still, he continued to work on issues he cared about, starting a youth ministry and volunteering at Prairie Guardians, an environmental nonprofit in Bloomington. And then, when he'd almost given up on a career in solar, he got a text from a case manager at his training program about a job at Atlanta's Dimension Energy with a $65,000 to $75,000 salary, a 10% sign-on bonus and unlimited PTO, or paid time off. 'I said, 'What is PTO?'' Foley recalled with a laugh. He had never heard of that. The company made him an offer, flew him to Atlanta to meet the team and put him up in a fancy hotel. He was worried that somehow the job, which is based in Chicago, wouldn't materialize, but then he got his company computer and corporate credit card. People told him, 'Don't mess this up,' he said. 'I was like, 'You're crazy if you think I'm going to mess any of this up,'' Foley recalled. There were high hopes for clean energy job training when the Illinois climate bill passed in 2021, and then there was frustration as year after year, the workforce hubs failed to materialize. 'This is one of the difficulties with having such nation-leading legislation,' said Francisco Lopez Zavala, an Illinois Environmental Council climate policy program associate. 'There was no other state in the U.S. to really model off in the efforts Illinois is leading in, with providing these trainings focused on the clean energy trade at such a scale, with the barrier reduction services that are offered,' he said. Among the issues, some state agencies didn't initially have enough staff, Lopez Zavala said, and even now, in some places 'it's still a struggle that we're continuing to work (on).' Pritzker's office did not respond to a written question about workforce hub delays but issued a statement saying in part, 'The idea for the CEJA workforce hubs originated with people from marginalized communities. The hubs are proof of the value of following environmental justice principles and ensuring impacted people have a seat at the table.' The services available to reduce barriers for workforce hub students can include child care, bus and gas cards, and assistance with housing and food. The idea is to give students the support they need to be productive and show up for class, said Crystal Overton, the 548 Foundation's director of student support services. A recent day found her buying clothes for the students' job interviews. 'I'm just thinking all the time, how are we preparing them for success?' Overton said. 'It needs to be a holistic approach, and not just education. It needs to be like Maslow's hierarchy of needs: Are they taken care of? Because if not, they're not going to come in open and receptive to the lesson.' The 11 regional workforce hubs that are already up and running include four in Chicago: the 548 Foundation hub with locations on the South and West sides, two Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership hubs on the South and West sides, and a Safer Foundation hub on the South Side. Classes vary, with the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership focusing on job readiness training with an emphasis on soft skills as well as an introduction to career pathways and occupations in the clean energy industry. 'Ideally, someone can walk in, not knowing anything about the different career pathways, and then make a choice: OK, do I want to be a solar panel installer or do I want to work in HVAC?' said Abram Garcia, the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership's interim associate director of program guidelines and budgets. Students can also find out which jobs they can get most quickly, he said, and for some that may be the deciding factor. Walter Alston, 35, of Chicago was drawn to construction, but at the end of his 12-week program at a Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership hub, he spread his net wider, interviewing with the electric vehicle company Rivian. He asked the questions he'd learned in the program — including ones about benefits and safety — and liked what he heard. Rivian offered him a job as a service technician, maintaining and repairing cars. He'll do five weeks of training in California, Arizona, Texas or Florida, and then move to one of those states for a permanent position. 'I thanked RW just, like, a million times,' Alston said of Revolution Workshop, the nonprofit that ran his training program. 'I thanked them, I thanked them, I thanked them.' As for Foley, he has in a sense come full circle. When he started his solar training program, talking to graduates gave him hope that this wasn't just another career dead end. Now he's the one with a job and a story to tell. During a recent video interview, Foley spoke from work, where he was on the road with some colleagues, visiting Illinois project sites. 'I'm loving it,' he said of his job. 'I'm very appreciative of where I'm at. They give me a lot of responsibility, so it's been a true life-altering experience.'

Hamilton Spectator

8 hours ago

• Hamilton Spectator

Prime Minister Carney in Brussels today for EU-Canada summit

BRUSSELS - Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Belgium today, where he visited a military cemetery before meeting with European Union leaders at an EU-Canada summit. Carney said on social media Sunday that he was in Brussels to launch 'a new era of partnership' between Canada and the European Union for the benefit of workers, businesses and security 'on both sides of the Atlantic.' Carney started the day with a visit to the Antwerp Schoonselhof Military Cemetery where 348 Canadian soldiers are buried. Later, he is expected to meet with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Carney posted on social media early on Monday that he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump overnight, noting the conversation addressed the need to de-escalate the conflict in the Middle East, their shared commitment of a stronger NATO and progress in ongoing trade talks between Canada and the United States. At the EU-Canada summit, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and Defence Minister David McGuinty are expected to sign a security and defence agreement with the European bloc in what one European official described last week as one of the most ambitious deals the continent's powers have ever signed with a third country. The security and defence agreement aims to open the door to Canada's participation in the joint purchase of weapons with European countries. It will also lead to Canada's participation in the ReArm Europe initiative, allowing Canada to access a 150-billion-euro program for defence procurement, called Security Action for Europe. Canada will need to sign a second agreement with the European Commission before it can take part in the program. A government official briefing reporters on the trip said the partnership is expected to make procurement easier and more affordable, while also allowing Canada to diversify the sources of equipment. At the EU-Canada summit, leaders are also expected to issue a joint statement to underscore a willingness for continued pressure on Russia to end its war on Ukraine, including through further sanctions, and call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The joint statement is also expected to touch on climate change, trade and digital and tech policy. Leaders at the EU-Canada summit are also slated to discuss global trade and commit to working towards full ratification and implementation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the Canada-Europe free trade deal known as CETA. The pact took effect provisionally in 2017, and most of its contents now apply. But all EU countries need to approve CETA before it can take full effect, with 10 members still left to ratify the deal. Carney, Costa and von der Leyen are scheduled to hold a joint press conference in the evening. On Tuesday, Carney travels to The Hague for the NATO summit. The international meetings come as Canada looks to reduce its defence procurement reliance on the United States due to strained relations over tariffs and U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated talk about Canada becoming a U.S. state. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2025.