Canada PM Carney announces deal with Australia to boost Arctic radar [Video]

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Tuesday a Can$6 billion (US$4.2 billion) deal with Australia to develop an Arctic radar system, warning that Canada must take more responsibility for its defence as US priorities shift.

Carney made the announcement in Iqaluit, capital of the Nunavut territory in the Canadian Arctic, on the final leg of his first official trip as prime minister since taking over from Justin Trudeau last week.

Carney — who has previously described the United States under President Donald Trump as a country Canada “can no longer trust” — characterized the radar deal as part of a broader effort to assert Canadian sovereignty over the Arctic.

“The world is changing,” Carney said in Iqaluit, where he made a domestic stop after visits to Paris and London.

“International institutions and norms that have kept Canada secure are now being called into question. And the United States’s priorities, our ally, …