EU Has the Snare Prepared for the Syrupeans

Syrupean spirits have been lower at some point in their history, I'm sure, so I won't say this is a nadir or anything.

But they are gloomy.

On the other hand, the cheerful little sprite who was selected and then elected to lead them off the cliff into the globalist abyss is feeling pretty perky and proud of himself.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has survived an attempt by rational folks in the province of Alberta to leave the Canadian Confederation, so he has that revenge to plot. Plus, he's knee-deep in plans to turn his whole country over to the European Union in a week, so he's busy with that, too.

 But he can always make 'elbows up' time for cameras to tell his fellow Syrupeans how much they don't need the United States and that Bad Orange Man.

🇨🇦🇺🇸 Canadian PM Mark Carney: "[Trump] is under no illusions. It's absolutely clear where I stand, where Canada stands, where Canadians stand. We will NEVER be the 51st state. We are going our own way. We're preparing, we're strong, and we're getting stronger." Associate membership with the EU, a defense MoU with Turkey... what's next for Ottawa? Writer: Michael https://t.co/TdAPj39VAW

— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) October 23, 2026

...Associate membership with the EU, a defense MoU with Turkey... what's next for Ottawa?

Classically, as with everything Carney touches, it's not that simple.

Unelected Empress of All Europe, European Commission President and Bond Villainess Ursula von der Leyen, proposed making Canada an 'associate EU member' during her state of the EU address five weeks ago.

As she hadn't bothered to tell any of the other member states what she and the twee Canadian had cooked up, naturally some leaders of those states were kind of hacked off at the idea, which was 'proposed' as basically a done deal.

Well, they're still fighting over what to call the Canadians, believe it or not. 'Associate' already has a myriad of other meanings with the EU itself, and those objecting think it will be confusing.

Unsurprisingly, the Germans are being the pissiest. Opponents of the scheme are entirely unwilling to do it first and work it out later.

Germany, France and at least six other EU countries are pushing against “associate membership” as the name for closer EU ties with Canada, six diplomats involved in the negotiations said.

The label is one of the main sticking points in talks over a joint declaration setting areas of deeper cooperation between Brussels and Ottawa ahead of the EU-Canada summit in Montreal on Oct. 29-30, the six diplomats and two EU officials told POLITICO. They were granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations.

The diplomats said the objections center on the wording of “associate membership,” not the broader goal of closer ties.

Five weeks after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen first proposed Canada becoming an “associate member” of the EU in her State of the Union speech — to the surprise of both Ottawa and EU capitals — and one week out from the summit itself, the disagreements show the term remains a political and messaging hurdle.

The EU "is really keen to have close cooperation with Canada," said Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee. But, he added, he too would avoid using the term "associate membership," as it leaves too much room for confusion with other forms of EU partnerships, such as association agreements.

Germany is pushing hardest to remove the label from the draft declaration, five of the EU diplomats said, while France, Italy and Belgium were among those expressing skepticism about the phrasing.

The central concern among the capitals that object to the term is that the EU is labeling the relationship before agreeing what it would mean. They argue the name should have been defined before negotiations with Canada began, four diplomats said, with two others adding that the objecting capitals are annoyed that von der Leyen proposed the label without first consulting national governments.

“We’ve definitely put the cart before the horse,” one diplomat said. “We’re announcing something and then figuring out how to flesh it out.”

Syrupeans are waiting with bated breath to see what exactly Carney is setting them up for when he whips his pen out next week. If the leaked excerpt of the EU-Canada agreement is any indication, those elbows are going to be worthless because he's signed away their right to lift them.

All, mind you, under the benign - but binding - guise of 'cooperation.'

A leaked draft EU–Canada statement proposes closer cooperation on rules that could affect how Canadians use artificial intelligence, prove their identity online, and have their personal information transferred between countries. It also proposes cooperation on tracking disease outbreaks and preparing for future pandemics. Joint committees would discuss major policies and regulations before they are introduced. The draft leaves important questions unanswered. Would Canadians face new digital identification requirements? What personal information could be shared, with whom, and under what safeguards? How much influence would these committees have over Canadian policy? Ottawa must explain what it is considering and ensure Canadians, through their elected representatives, retain control over the rules that govern them. Our report, Restoring Freedom in Canada, calls for rejecting binding international agreements that compromise Canadian sovereignty. https://t.co/5aYZLKlQWC

— Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (@JCCFCanada) October 22, 2026

...It also proposes cooperation on tracking disease outbreaks and preparing for future pandemics. 

Joint committees would discuss major policies and regulations before they are introduced. The draft leaves important questions unanswered. Would Canadians face new digital identification requirements? What personal information could be shared, with whom, and under what safeguards? How much influence would these committees have over Canadian policy? Ottawa must explain what it is considering and ensure Canadians, through their elected representatives, retain control over the rules that govern them. 

Our report, Restoring Freedom in Canada, calls for rejecting binding international agreements that compromise Canadian sovereignty.

Canadians following these rapid developments are having fits of 'what the whut?!'

This one fellow sounds like a seer.

Canadians about to surrender ore sovereignty to an increasingly authoritarian and hostile EU. And if the government put it to a vote through a general election, the majority of voters would be dumb enough to endorse it as a protest vote to Trump.

Sadly, no crystal ball needed for his future vision, though. Syrupeans have a track record, and that's how they got Carney.

What is telling is the German Member of the European Parliament (MEP) who stood up today, not to argue about 'associate,' but to rip the icy Ms. von der Leyen and the EU concept in general a new one as she warned Canadians what to expect. It is extraordinary (and there's more of it here).

Give the snippet below a watch.

GLOOM, DESPAIR AND AGONY ON THEE

++ Canada, It's a Trap! ++ Ursula #vonderLeyen wants to lure Canada into an associate EU membership. Will Mark Carney do right and tell von der Leyen to bugger off? If he won't, then the Canadian people will have to fix it, and maybe a new freedom convoy would then be in order. https://t.co/53Ej7AClaq

— Christine Anderson (@AndersonAfDMdEP) October 23, 2026

...Apparently Ursula von der Leyen is no longer content with merely terrorizing the people in the EU with her insane regulations, bureaucracy, and cronyism. No! She is looking for yet another people whose industry she can wipe out, whose prosperity she can destroy, whose speech she can censor,and whose country she can flood with even more illegal migrants...'

HOLY SMOKES

It was a barnburner. MEP Anderson has had her mic cut off a few times while she's been speaking. They're not fans of her brusqueness in Brussels.

Canadians should be, although I'm not sure what they could do about it. Carney seems to have almost unilateral power to give the country away.

The best they can do, it seems, is rustle up folks to sign a petition because 'we deserve a vote.' Carney will say 'you had one and elected moi.'

Julian Assange points out the sheer financial lunacy of this move and the obvious fact that it cost Canada nothing to ride American coattails.

...Financial analysts and policy observers have modeled a potential total cost based on Norway’s framework. Norway pays roughly €869 million annually for its access to European Economic Area (EEA) cooperation and programs. Because Canada's economy is roughly 4.5 times larger than Norway's, a comparable baseline for wide-scale program integration would translate to nearly €4 billion (approx. C$6.3 billion) annually.

There is no annual fee required for Canada to participate in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA)

‼️ These concerns are exactly why I started this petition. Carney never campaigned on EU membership or association. Winning an election is not permission to sign Canadians up for whatever harebrained notion pops to mind for him afterward while pretending we asked for it. Our country... our money... our say... Whatever your political stripe, we ALL live with the consequences. Agree or Disagree: At the very least, Canadians should be fully informed of the EU deal and afforded a vote on it BEFORE Carney signs Canada up to a FOREIGN PARLIAMENT. Please sign.🙏🏻 And if you already signed... THANK YOU! Please share it. Canadians deserve a vote before the ink dries. Link👇🏻 https://t.co/HyNDWNLxqO

— Melanie In Saskatchewan (@saskatchewan_in) October 20, 2026

Our country... our money... our say... Whatever your political stripe, we ALL live with the consequences. 

Agree or Disagree:

At the very least, Canadians should be fully informed of the EU deal and afforded a vote on it BEFORE Carney signs Canada up to a FOREIGN PARLIAMENT.

Please sign.🙏🏻 And if you already signed... THANK YOU! 

Please share it. Canadians deserve a vote before the ink dries.

Best of luck trying to get TDS-infected and inflamed Syrupeans to 'read,' which is precisely what Carney and von der Leyen are counting on.

There is a very viral post going around on the leaked Canada-EU framework. I love it but think it gets some things wrong - here is my take. 1/ Everyone cheering the Canada-EU “alliance for the future” should read the fine print before they lift their elbows. Here’s what we’re actually signing up for 🧵 2/ “Associated country status” means we adopt EU regulatory frameworks we don’t vote on. Privacy rules, data rules, procurement rules, written in Brussels for 27 countries that aren’t us. Canada spent decades fighting for a seat at the table. This deal gives us a seat in the hallway. 3/ And what do we get for it? The right to bid on European cloud contracts. Bid. Not win. Against French and German champions in a market designed to protect French and German champions. Ask any Canadian firm that’s tried to sell into the EU how that’s gone. 4/ Meanwhile three in four dollars we earn abroad come from the U.S. That’s not a policy choice. That’s geography, pipelines, auto plants built across the border, and a shared language. No joint statement moves Montreal closer to Rotterdam. 5/ Trump already called this a “hostile act.” We’re mid-negotiation on CUSMA, the only agreement that actually matters, and Ottawa’s play is to publicly flirt with the one partner guaranteed to blow it up. That’s not diversification. That’s picking a fight with your landlord during the lease renewal. 6/ “But the tariffs came first.” Sure. And the response to a trade war with your biggest customer is to negotiate harder with that customer, not to go shopping for a second one who can’t absorb what you sell and won’t pay to ship it. 7/ Europe’s track record on standing with partners under pressure: strongly worded statements, a summit, a working group. Ask Ukraine how fast “associate membership” turned into anything real. We’d be their test case, and test cases get abandoned when the cost shows up. 8/ The Galileo and minerals pieces are fine. Do those as standalone deals. What they don’t require is a quasi-membership that imports Brussels’ rulebook and turns Canada into a bargaining chip in a U.S.-EU fight we didn’t start. 9/ Here’s the question for the people selling this: name one country that got richer by binding itself to EU regulation without a vote in the EU. Norway and Switzerland spent decades resenting exactly that arrangement. We’d be volunteering for it. From across an ocean. 10/ Canada’s future runs north-south whether we like it or not. The grown-up move is to fix that relationship, not to cosplay a European country and hope nobody in Washington notices. They’ve noticed.

— Mike Werry (@mjwerry) October 17, 2026

...Here’s what we’re actually signing up for 🧵

2/ “Associated country status” means we adopt EU regulatory frameworks we don’t vote on. Privacy rules, data rules, procurement rules, written in Brussels for 27 countries that aren’t us. Canada spent decades fighting for a seat at the table. This deal gives us a seat in the hallway.

3/ And what do we get for it? The right to bid on European cloud contracts. Bid. Not win. Against French and German champions in a market designed to protect French and German champions. Ask any Canadian firm that’s tried to sell into the EU how that’s gone.

4/ Meanwhile three in four dollars we earn abroad come from the U.S. That’s not a policy choice. That’s geography, pipelines, auto plants built across the border, and a shared language. No joint statement moves Montreal closer to Rotterdam.

5/ Trump already called this a “hostile act.” We’re mid-negotiation on CUSMA, the only agreement that actually matters, and Ottawa’s play is to publicly flirt with the one partner guaranteed to blow it up. That’s not diversification. That’s picking a fight with your landlord during the lease renewal.

6/ “But the tariffs came first.” Sure. And the response to a trade war with your biggest customer is to negotiate harder with that customer, not to go shopping for a second one who can’t absorb what you sell and won’t pay to ship it.

7/ Europe’s track record on standing with partners under pressure: strongly worded statements, a summit, a working group. Ask Ukraine how fast “associate membership” turned into anything real. We’d be their test case, and test cases get abandoned when the cost shows up.

8/ The Galileo and minerals pieces are fine. Do those as standalone deals. What they don’t require is a quasi-membership that imports Brussels’ rulebook and turns Canada into a bargaining chip in a U.S.-EU fight we didn’t start.

9/ Here’s the question for the people selling this: name one country that got richer by binding itself to EU regulation without a vote in the EU. Norway and Switzerland spent decades resenting exactly that arrangement. We’d be volunteering for it. From across an ocean.

10/ Canada’s future runs north-south whether we like it or not. The grown-up move is to fix that relationship, not to cosplay a European country and hope nobody in Washington notices. They’ve noticed.

I don't see this ending well, and no one is going to be more shocked than Canadians.

There are going to be tears and sticky Syrupeans spilled everywhere.

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