Carney’s trip to Armenia happening as Ottawa’s foreign policy aims shift, expert says

Prime Minister Mark Carney is headed to Armenia on Saturday for a visit his office says is framed around Ukraine’s defence and drumming up more trade and investment in Europe. Jean-François Ratelle, an international studies professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in the Caucasus region, said it’s disappointing that the visit doesn’t seem to be aimed at continuing Canada’s years of advocacy for democracy and peace in Armenia.“We are witnessing a complete change of our foreign policy and what are our general interests,” Ratelle told The Canadian Press.“It’s looking for our own interests and our own opportunities, and not playing that leading role in norms, and what used to define Canada.”The prime minister will be in the Armenian capital Yerevan from Saturday until Monday for the European Political Community summit touching on strategic co-operation in politics, security and infrastructure. Story continues below advertisement Canada is the first non-European country to attend these meetings, which have taken place twice a year since they began after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meetings include EU countries and others, such as Iceland, Turkey and Ukraine itself.“It’s really mainly an attempt to create a forum to talk to each other,”