OTTAWA – France’s new ambassador to Canada says her country admires the Carney government’s response to “extremely radical” American demands and is calling for swift action to boost Canada’s strategic ties with Europe.
“My mission is very clear. It’s to work toward making France one of Canada’s closest allies in Europe, in each field, in every sector,” French Ambassador Hélène Farnaud-Defromont told The Canadian Press on Friday.
In her first interview since her posting started last month, Farnaud-Defromont said in French her country sees Prime Minister Mark Carney’s approach to managing trade negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration as “exemplary.”
The prime minister called a halt to trade talks with Washington in August and accused the Trump administration of bringing fresh demands to the table at the last minute. Carney also has vowed to protect Canada’s language sovereignty and ability to regulate big tech firms.
“The stance, which is both very calm and very determined, by Canadian leaders in the face of demands from the U.S. that are, after all, extremely radical is really an attitude that commands admiration in Europe and … in France in particular,” she said.
“We know that a promise made or a treaty signed will be honoured, but in fact, we can no longer be sure of any of that.”
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The European Union handles most of France’s trade talks with Washington. French President Emmanuel Macron criticized the EU’s decision this summer to accept an American deal that imposes a 15 per cent tariff on many European goods but not on American ones.
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Farnaud-Defromont said Europe and Canada are both navigating a turbulent global climate marked by economic upheaval, a war in Ukraine and political polarization.
France is grappling with a budget crisis and growing frustration among teenagers about the education system that boiled over into violent clashes with police this past week.
The broader uncertainty makes Canada “a very important and preferred partner” for France, the ambassador said.
“We, France and the French people, really want to present ourselves as sincere, reliable and steadfast partners, at the heart of these international uncertainties,” she said.
Farnaud-Defromont said that means building on already strong ties based on shared values, human rights, Canada’s many French-speaking communities and dozens of French companies that have operated for decades here.
“We have a bilateral relationship that is very good, comprehensive and substantial, but we believe we can achieve even more together, in areas that are truly strategic,” she said.
She said France offers Canada “win-win” co-operation in sectors such as aerospace, defence, energy, quantum technology and artificial intelligence.
France is one of 10 European Union countries which have never ratified a trade deal with Canada, even though that deal has been in effective operation for almost a decade. The French Senate voted against ratifying the deal in 2014 in the face of lobbying by the country’s politically sensitive agriculture industry.
Farnaud-Defromont said the French and Canadian economies would benefit if both countries did more together in complimentary fields such as space and defence.
Canada and the EU are holding a bilateral summit later this month. Many observers hope that meeting produces details of a proposed new partnership between Canada and the EU — one that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen controversially framed as “associate” EU membership for Canada.
Carney has instead referred to an “alliance of the future.” Farnaud-Defromont said concrete outcomes are more important than phrasing.
“We need to build this up. It’s very new and we need to do it fairly quickly,” she said of the partnership. “We don’t have time to spend years haggling over commas and periods.”
Farnaud-Defromont said Carney’s speech last month to the European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg resonated with the French people. In that speech, the prime minister spoke of Canada’s long-standing ties with the continent and the many fields where Canada and Europe can work more closely together.
“We do not want to completely disrupt the system, but we do want to find new alliances and new multilateral discussion formats,” she said.
“We need to be inventive, we need to be innovative, flexible, and agile.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2026.
— With files from Émilie Bergeron
Hi I’m mark carney. I’m a billionaire and actually live in the US.
MY goal is bankrupt Canada and make Canadians poor. Why? Because I hate you more than you know. So enjoy your tents.
I have an INTENSE HATRED of libs and their swallowers! HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE!
To all you libbys, PP gonna feed ball cream to your wife, mom,dad, grandma, grandpa, then finish off by taking a dump on them. How do like them apples?
Carney fawns over EU socialist so the bromance is returned back to him. A bunch of self serving authoritarians.
@Anonymous. 4:51PM/6:59PM Quite rich advice as you call people names also. Lol
This is “gIobaIist circle-jerk week” and they give themselves awards and tell each other how great they are.
It gives their paid online presence a chance to talk about PP.
Loser klepto-socialist failed state France, admiring fellow klepto-socialist failed state Canada is an accomplishment for the clueless Elbows Up crowd.
Not so much for the normal people.
To me the next step is to remove the tariffs that Canada has placed on American products. What would Trump do? Would he remove his matching tariffs?
Seeing the current state of France, this means very little. I’m not going to accept praise from a government that can’t run a country properly. If they think we are doing something right, we must be doing it wrong.
Keep worshipping carnholes shriveled weiner , damn you libs are as dumb as a bag of rocks
All politicians are a waste of skin, like yourself, you’re just to blind to see it
@ anonymous:
Look at the classy folks PP attracts.
That’s why the waste of skin PP lost with a 28 point lead.
I hope PP stays on.
france stink twat luvs carnhole, big deal
Has Mark Carney done anything that no one else would have or has he just played the cards he was dealt?Don’t put him on a pedestal too early, he’s more likely to fall if you do.
How many Cons have to quit before they realize PP’s a crook?
PP has never had a job and yet he has millions?
He’s worth it though for blowing a 28 point lead in three weeks.
bwahahahahaha…great campaign!
PP’s morons hate it when allies like our PM.
Jack here loves Putin and hates our allies.
He’s russian is why..
Carney is a EU bootlicker.
I see Liberals now fetishize guillotines…
Liberals are infants and yet do not see infanticide as all that bad a thing.
Good.
Dear Marilyn,
We are upset that liberals think endorsements from surrender monkees is positive news.
@Marylin. You are out of a job next election. Good riddance.
@Jaded:
Another poor PP fan upset that absolutely no one admi9res PP the Whinestone Cowboy goof.
Seen the shape France is in lately? I wouldn’t want to be “admired” by that lot.
She is the ambassador, what else could she say? Canada with Carney at the helm has to be the most idiotic country in the world?
Is PP still calling for an election after blowing a 28 point lead???
Nice mansion for this waste of skin
Fern of course diverts like the moron she is by attacking Europe,
A once great nation hurling towards 3rd world status admires Carney LOL!!!
Carneys supporters trying to deflect from his abysmal record so far in his time as PM.
Canada is a great place.
(cue PP’s rednecks)’
Carney shopuld give PP his snap election and finish wiping him out.
Making fun of someone’s appearance is typical when the jealous person is ugly inside and outside.
@Anonymous 4:51 PM. PP is at home during Thanksgiving with his very pretty wife. Carney and his wife look like brother and sister. Dianna is one homely female.
FarRight is right, pp is all fancy talk but doesn’t do anything to change our situation. Danielle Smith has more proverbial balls to stand up to skidMark than pp ever had. Trump is very unpopular with the leftwing nutters but he would take the socialist garbage out.
You’re right, pp is a waste of skin, I want someone like Trump to CLEAN cunada up
lol…redneck heads explode if our PM gets praise.
Where’s their hero PP?
I am not a fan of Carney or PP but Carney won the election so he must deliver on his promises to Canadians. So far he has been a huge disappointment.
France is hovering around failed state status. Are there any high fives from more successful countries?
…of course she admires Carney, as she is looking for the same $125M Brazil Deal that Anand announced and how her cut works… as the money goes through the laundromat at the Brookfield Bike Shop Bank in Bermuda…just sayin’…
Carnhole is a POS and all you supporters are traitors, hope to see you all livestreamed at a future date, hint, hint
Ok, this is getting frustrating.
I’m typing E n e r c a r e (minus the spaces) and it keeps “correcting” me.
So France will deal with us but won’t sign anything. We have been dealing with them for 10 years but they won’t commit on paper what a joke and they say Trump can’t be trusted. The EU will take Canada for all it has and then throw them away
Correction: … Netcare…
effin autocorrect.
@auntieOlive – the only one needing confirmation bias glasses is you.
Carney’s all talk and no results, and pure posturing like we actually mean anything today on the global scale.
In case you missed yet another credible poll, Canada just slid down from 9th to 19th position on global economic freedom scale.
Carney’s latest delusion is the heat pumps.
Do YOU know he’s giving specific corporate financing to installation networks Trane and Netcare?
Do YOU know who owns them?
Brookfield!!!
Your idol Carney will be directly profiting from this, and you have the audacity to defend this scumbag?
Because of voters like YOU, Canada is in such a mess.
Envoy is clearly an idiot.
I care even less of France’s opinion than Quebec. Yet both are irrelevant and have no credibility.
Nobody cares what France thinks. Canada is sovereign and doesn’t need anyone’s approval.
This ambassador admired Trudeau’s blackface also.
Canada will give up much sovereignty should Canada become an “associate” member of the EU.
@AuntieOlive
PP is doing his job as leader of the Opposition.
“Isn’t he the great hope for the future?”
He is the only hope for, among other things, getting rid of the Industrial Carbon Tax. That would change Canada’s price-competitiveness on the global market. Everyone is competing on price; we are not.
“PP is unelectable.”
Which may be admittedly an image problem. However, the Conservative plan is just as comprehensive as the Liberal one, but without the restrictive, unbelievably fantasy-laden economic vision of the latter.
Not a lot of support for Carney on this conversation subject.
@AuntieOlive.
Yet another deflection. Trudeau was popular until he wasn’t. I am sure you supported him also.
To all the anti-Carney un-supporters: Where’s Pierre?
Isn’t he the great hope for the future?
PP is unelectable.
Keep up with the false equivalency and maybe get new confirmation bias glasses.
France is even more of a dumpster fire than Canada is. Seems the socialists are giving each other high 5s as their economies circle the drain.
Meanwhile France is burning and riots in the streets due to the left wing nut jobs!
Nothing like shooting yourself in the foot multiple times over. I guess this is what the Ambassador “admires” about Clowney.
I guess France admires Carney results so far. No election promises kept, 100k job losses last month, Canada has had zero to slightly negative growth since Carney took office. Plus tariffs are higher now than they were when Trudeau resigned.
So the French diplomat likes what Carney is doing to Canada. Well her standard isn’t very high as we can see in France riots and burnings happening in towns and cities all over France. Mostly driven by a terrible economic state and way too many migrants who hate the west and are using that hate to try to bring down France. It is left wing policies that have created that situation in France and now that country’s envoy is suggesting she likes what Carney is doing to Canada. If that is the standard then we know for sure that we in Canada are in big trouble with Carney at the helm.
France ought to shut up if it doesn’t want more guillotines in its future.
Thats great. Given france is a failing state. Clear evidence of a country heading in a good direction, right?
France is a parasite just like Quebec so their “admiration” is just wanting to exploit Canada.
But Musk having an opinion on separation stirs irredeemable liberals to cry interference.
Ben
Name one trade deal carney has done in 18 months.just one? Name one pipeline that is under construction that he has approved?
It doesn’t count all that flying around the world he has done with tax payers money all the talk about Canada Strong while we lost 100.000 jobs in couple of months
The E.U. Experiment,
“Let’s fill our Nations with trash until it spontaneously ignites an uncontrollable dumpster fire.”
Mark Carney and the Liberal Party,
“Can we join in on that Experiment?
We have already worked towards meeting the required parameters “
Yes, French elites, if they are not bowing their heads to a guillotine it is to surrender to invaders.
The leftards are praising Carney for dismantling Canada just like they dismantled their nations.
The leftards are not very bright.
Don’t be a leftard.
France?
The country that is currerntly being burned to the ground by rioting immigrants?
The country with a horrible economy?
The country that is falling apart socially because of left wing policies?
Oh yeah….their opinion is super valuable
Those opinions do track though.
France is just as broke and corrupt as Canada. Self destructive mandated stupidity.
Great, one of the worst economies and efficiency’s in the EU likes what we are doing. Yup, Carney is a financial genius…no I mean it, just look at how well he is doing,…..yup HE…not us.
Who cares? She admires have s stance but doesn’t share it… I wonder why? Could it be, Operation Hind Behind the Idiot?
France should worry about the immigrant take over of their country and not praise a Canadians wanna be dictator…
Ben “while remaining reasonably diplomatic with the US.” And “He never directly attacks the thin skinned Trump.”
Wrong on both accounts. Catchphrase used during our last election that antagonize Trump, Carney has even mimicked Trump hand gestures while doing speeches and then giggles like a schoolchild.
The rest of the world negotiated behind the scenes and secured their deal while the LPC antagonized to secure votes.
Maybe she admires the 100,000 jobs lost in the last two months or Canada economy on life support. Carney still hasn’t got a deal he promised over a year ago.
Uh… what *other* stance is possible in the face of American “radical demands”? It isn’t anything miraculous; you’re *supposed to* walk away from an obviously lousy deal.
Not impressed.
Carney is protecting our national soverignty, reducing economic dependence on the USA, while remaining reasonably diplomatic with the US. We will not appease the bully Trump only for him to break another deal. Also notice how intelligent Carney is when dealing with the US. He never directly attacks the thin skinned Trump.
If they would say that they admire Canada because they know Carney wants to join the EU and all they see is money and the natural resources Canada has that they will take over. The question to ask is why haven’t they stood up to Trump and said no. Instead they made sure they got a deal about tariffs and I don’t see them giving them back in support of Canada. Carney and this Liberal need to understand that they may love all this praise and admiration but that doesn’t put food on the table or pay bills especially when you have lost your job.
Great. Who here can eat admiration, or use it to put a roof over our heads?
Is France going to step up and buy 80 percent of exports that the US used to buy? Will it pay more for shipping for our goods, even though it is part of the European free trade market?
And ?