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EU’s Barnier hopes Brexit deal possible in ‘coming weeks’

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LUXEMBOURG — The European Union and Britain are seeking to get their divorce negotiations back on track at Wednesday’s Brexit summit after botched weekend talks pushed back expectations of a deal into November at the earliest.

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said Tuesday that negotiators are working towards ensuring Britain leaves the EU next March in an orderly fashion and to secure a comprehensive deal “in the coming weeks.”

Barnier’s time-horizon has shifted after talks hit an impasse on Sunday, dashing hopes of a breakthrough at this week’s two-day summit of the EU’s 28 leaders, including Britain’s Theresa May, in Brussels.

Speaking on the eve of the summit, Barnier said several issues still needed to be dealt with, including the future of the border between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Many aspects of the divorce have already been agreed, such as what Britain owes the EU, but other aspects relating to the future relationship have still to be resolved, notably relating to the border on the island of Ireland.

“We are not there yet,” he said. “We will use that time, calmly, with serious intent to find the overall deal in the coming weeks.”

Barnier’s comments have more or less put paid to any prospect of a decisive moment at this week’s summit. Since the Brexit discussions began over 18 months ago, this October’s summit had been earmarked as the most likely date for any agreement given the need to get necessary parliamentary approvals before Britain officially leaves the EU next March.

While hoping for a deal, the EU insisted Tuesday it is pressing forward with contingency plans to protect the 27 member states if Britain crashes out of the bloc on March 29 without a deal and without a transition period to the future relationship of the two sides. European Council president Donald Tusk has warned that the chances of Britain crashing out without a deal are higher than ever before.

Germany was exhorting British Prime Minister Theresa May to come to Wednesday’s summit with a positive message that could kick-start the stalled talks again.

“Take responsibility and be constructive,” said Germany’s Europe Minister Michael Roth when he arrived for talks with Barnier in Luxembourg.

In London, May urged her divided Cabinet to back her amid growing talk that several members are ready to resign in protest at her plans.

During a three-hour Cabinet meeting Tuesday, May said the government must “stand together and stand firm.”

The EU is waiting for new proposals from Britain. But May’s room for compromise is restricted by divisions within her Conservative Party, and by her reliance on Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, which opposes any compromise on the border.

Several senior ministers, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab and Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, met privately over pizza on Monday evening and emerged professing support for the prime minister.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said “no one is planning on resigning. We are all doing our jobs and we are trying to get the best deal for this country, and that’s it.”

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Lawless reported from London. Lorne Cook contributed from Brussels

Raf Casert And Jill Lawless, The Associated Press

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Kananaskis G7 meeting the right setting for U.S. and Canada to reassert energy ties

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Energy security, resilience and affordability have long been protected by a continentally integrated energy sector.

The G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, offers a key platform to reassert how North American energy cooperation has made the U.S. and Canada stronger, according to a joint statement from The Heritage Foundation, the foremost American conservative think tank, and MEI, a pan-Canadian research and educational policy organization.

“Energy cooperation between Canada, Mexico and the United States is vital for the Western World’s energy security,” says Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and one of America’s most prominent energy experts. “Both President Trump and Prime Minister Carney share energy as a key priority for their respective administrations.

She added, “The G7 should embrace energy abundance by cooperating and committing to a rapid expansion of energy infrastructure. Members should commit to streamlined permitting, including a one-stop shop permitting and environmental review process, to unleash the capital investment necessary to make energy abundance a reality.”

North America’s energy industry is continentally integrated, benefitting from a blend of U.S. light crude oil and Mexican and Canadian heavy crude oil that keeps the continent’s refineries running smoothly.

Each day, Canada exports 2.8 million barrels of oil to the United States.

These get refined into gasoline, diesel and other higher value-added products that furnish the U.S. market with reliable and affordable energy, as well as exported to other countries, including some 780,000 barrels per day of finished products that get exported to Canada and 1.08 million barrels per day to Mexico.

A similar situation occurs with natural gas, where Canada ships 8.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the United States through a continental network of pipelines.

This gets consumed by U.S. households, as well as transformed into liquefied natural gas products, of which the United States exports 11.5 billion cubic feet per day, mostly from ports in Louisiana, Texas and Maryland.

“The abundance and complementarity of Canada and the United States’ energy resources have made both nations more prosperous and more secure in their supply,” says Daniel Dufort, president and CEO of the MEI. “Both countries stand to reduce dependence on Chinese and Russian energy by expanding their pipeline networks – the United States to the East and Canada to the West – to supply their European and Asian allies in an increasingly turbulent world.”

Under this scenario, Europe would buy more high-value light oil from the U.S., whose domestic needs would be back-stopped by lower-priced heavy oil imports from Canada, whereas Asia would consume more LNG from Canada, diminishing China and Russia’s economic and strategic leverage over it.

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The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

As the nation’s largest, most broadly supported conservative research and educational institution, The Heritage Foundation has been leading the American conservative movement since our founding in 1973. The Heritage Foundation reaches more than 10 million members, advocates, and concerned Americans every day with information on critical issues facing America.

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Poilievre on 2025 Election Interference – Carney sill hasn’t fired Liberal MP in Chinese election interference scandal

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From Conservative Party Communications

Yes. He must be disqualified. I find it incredible that Mark Carney would allow someone to run for his party that called for a Canadian citizen to be handed over to a foreign government on a bounty, a foreign government that would almost certainly execute that Canadian citizen.

 

“Think about that for a second. We have a Liberal MP saying that a Canadian citizen should be handed over to a foreign dictatorship to get a bounty so that that citizen could be murdered. And Mark Carney says he should stay on as a candidate. What does that say about whether Mark Carney would protect Canadians?

“Mark Carney is deeply conflicted. Just in November, he went to Beijing and secured a quarter-billion-dollar loan for his company from a state-owned Chinese bank. He’s deeply compromised, and he will never stand up for Canada against any foreign regime. It is another reason why Mr. Carney must show us all his assets, all the money he owes, all the money that his companies owe to foreign hostile regimes. And this story might not be entirely the story of the bounty, and a Liberal MP calling for a Canadian to be handed over for execution to a foreign government might not be something that the everyday Canadian can relate to because it’s so outrageous. But I ask you this, if Mark Carney would allow his Liberal MP to make a comment like this, when would he ever protect Canada or Canadians against foreign hostility?

“He has never put Canada first, and that’s why we cannot have a fourth Liberal term. After the Lost Liberal Decade, our country is a playground for foreign interference. Our economy is weaker than ever before. Our people more divided. We need a change to put Canada first with a new government that will stand up for the security and economy of our citizens and take back control of our destiny. Let’s bring it home.”

 

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