Officials in Brussels often joke about Canada joining the EU.
Some European leaders, including Alexander Stubb, the Finnish president, have even started to entertain the idea.
It remains a pipe dream for now – but Mark Carney will at least get to play the part of a European leader in Yerevan on Monday.
The Canadian prime minister will become the first leader of a non-European state to join a summit of the European Political Community.
Mark Carney landed in Yerevan, Armenia, on Sunday and had a meeting with Roberta Metsola, the president of the European Parliament – Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press via AP
The gathering of some 45 regional leaders was initially conceived by Emmanuel Macron as a response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The French president believed such a summit, of which Monday’s will be the eighth, was also needed as a means for an independent Europe to project its power.
This notion was often laughed at – until Donald Trump re-entered the White House. In the last 15 months, the US president has imposed steep trade tariffs on European countries and on Canada.
He has threatened to invade and take over Greenland from Denmark, a Nato ally, as well as withdrawing some 5,000 American troops from Germany, who are helping to defend the continent from Russia.
And let’s not forget his tendency to side with Vladimir Putin instead of Volodymyr Zelensky in his efforts to mediate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
Despite all this, Mr Macron and Mr Carney have so far been unable to find support for a unified response to Mr Trump.
Their complaints about leaders not standing up for their own interests would often be ignored, as counterparts opted to appease the US president rather than opposing him.
But now, the gloves may finally come off.
Emmanuel Macron, who came up with the idea for the European Political Community summits, is welcomed by Vahagn Khachaturyan, the president of Armenia, at Yerevan airport on Sunday – Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
Sir Keir Starmer, Germany’s Friedrich Merz and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni were all considered to have relatively good relations with Mr Trump, but have become targets of his anger for refusing to join his war in Iran. Their bridge-building gambits have failed.
Instead, they’re living in the world envisioned by Mr Carney in Davos earlier this year, when he bluntly warned that integration with the US – whether economic, defence or cultural – is a thing of the past.
The speech made Mr Carney something of a star, with his wake-up call about a political “rupture” threatening to chew up and spit out the world’s “middle powers”.
“If we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” he proclaimed, without naming Mr Trump directly.
Building ‘a third superpower’
Those “middle powers” are now gathering in Armenia, and Mr Trump has not been invited.
Recent events have left European and Canadian leaders scrambling to build a third superpower to stop themselves being crushed between the weight of the US and China.
It all makes Canada joining the EU sound quite plausible. Recent polls show almost 60 per cent of Canadians would favour the move.
In reality, it’s probably a bridge too far, but Mr Carney’s presence at the European Political Community summit will only add to the growing discussions about the idea.