Bloomberg News is reporting that Mark Carney is considering sending Canadian soldiers to Greenland, in the midst of U.S. President Donald Trump’s continued pressure to acquire the island for U.S. interests.

The news agency said it spoke to a person familiar with the matter, under condition that the person not be named. It confirmed earlier reports by

CBC News

and the

Globe and Mail

on the same issue. The report made it clear that Canada’s prime minister hasn’t made a decision yet. National Post has reached out to the Prime Minister’s Office for comment.

The report notes that a Royal Canadian Air Force contingent is already taking part in a pre-planned NORAD exercise in Greenland, but that Carney is pondering whether to send additional forces as part of sovereignty exercises Denmark is planning. That might include drills to protect the Greenland’s critical infrastructure.

Trump has announced a 10 per cent tariff, rising to 25 per cent in June, on eight European nations — EU members Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, along with Britain and Norway — after they said they would participate in NATO military exercises in Greenland.

Bloomberg says that move has caused European Union leaders to plan an emergency summit to discuss the matter and explore possible retaliatory measures, including counter-tariffs. U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Trump on Sunday that the U.S. tariff measure was “wrong.”

The plan is to meet in Brussels on Thursday. One option is a package of tariffs on 93 billion euros ($150 billion Cdn) of U.S. imports that could automatically kick in on Feb. 6 after a six-month suspension.

On Sunday, Carney said Greenland’s future is for Denmark and Greenland to decide, and that he’ll reiterate that message to Trump if they speak about it.

Carney made his remarks from Qatar, where he had travelled after his visit to China last week. “It’s a serious situation,” Carney said at a news conference. “We’re concerned about this escalation, to be absolutely clear.”

Carney said the security of Greenland “very much falls within the responsibilities of NATO,” adding: “We always will support sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries, wherever their geographic location is.”

Asked what he would say to Trump, he replied: “I’m going to say everything I just said.”

Carney’s next stop is the

World Economic Forum

taking place this week in Davos, Switzerland. Trump is also attending and is set to deliver a speech on Wednesday, but it’s not known if the two leaders will meet.

Over the weekend, Trump linked his claims on Greenland to not being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in a letter he sent to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” Trump said in the letter, which was obtained by Bloomberg. “Although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.”

“The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland,” he added.

Store said he had informed Trump several times that the prize isn’t decided by the Norwegian government but is awarded by an independent committee.

• Trump’s Greenland obsession, new tariff threats reignite trade war fears in Europe
• EU leaders to discuss possible retaliatory tariffs to Trump’s economic coercion on Greenland

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here.

Patient medical records are being streamlined into a single digitized record system in Nova Scotia, preventing overlap and delays in what officials say could be a valuable model for other provinces to emulate.

The new system – dubbed One Person One Record – was implemented last month at Halifax’s Izaak Walton Killam Hospital (IWK) Health Centre and is expected to go province-wide by year’s end.

“The clinical information system reduces a patient’s need to repeat health history for each provider and streamlines appointment scheduling and transitions between providers and care settings,” Nova Scotia Health and Wellness Minister Michelle Thompson said in an email to National Post.

Dr. Krista Jangaard, IWK Health’s president and CEO, said the system’s “biggest strength” is giving healthcare professionals access to patients’ complete, up-to-date health information from ambulatory clinics, emergency department visits, mental health and addictions treatment and inpatient care.

It “prevents duplication and unnecessary tests and ensures timely decision making,” she told the Post.

Officials say that more than 26,000 medical providers will have access to the new system, run by Oracle Health Canada under a 10-year, $365-million contract.

“We have heard from primary care providers that they are receiving timely information about their patients’ care at hospital facilities. This all enhances the patient’s care experience,” Thompson told the Post.

The system also helps address Nova Scotia’s doctor recruitment challenge. About 68,000 people are on the official waitlist to get a physician; a 2022

report

 found provincial recruiters discovered that medical students and incoming doctors felt paper records were a “deterrent” for entering the field in the province.

Thompson called the new portal “another attractive option to recruit and retain healthcare professionals who want to work in modern facilities with modern tools.”

There have been some minor startup issues with One Person One Record, according to Dr. Howard Conter, vice-president for medical operations at Signature Health, a private executive health and corporate wellness clinic in Halifax.

But he said the program itself was not the problem: “It was the implementation, because a lot of the people just hadn’t paid attention to the fact that we were approaching the starting line. It was very much more the fact that your players on the field had not read the playbook.”

There was never “any danger to patients or patient care,” he said.

Conter noted the new format allows patients, parents and medical professionals to “get a much better looks at files” that “aren’t in bits and pieces,” and typed out for clarity. Previously, he lamented the “freehand” notes that “could have been in Swahili, as far as that was concerned.”

Jangaard said 100% percent of providers, physicians and nurse practitioners had completed training, but some disruptions were “to be expected with any undertaking of this magnitude,” as staff adapt.

Thompson agreed “a period of learning and stabilization, as teams become more comfortable using the new clinical information” is to be expected. But the eventual advantages, include less time spent on charting and repetitive administrative tasks, she said.

Jangaard noted that only authorized medical staff are permitted to collect, use and disclose personal health information, obviating any privacy concerns.  She added: “Patients have the right to see who has looked at their electronic health record by requesting a Record of User Activity” under the province’s Personal Health Information Act.

Jangaard said the IWK has “embedded lessons learned and practices from the experiences of other Canadian health organizations,” and there may be opportunity for the hospital to impart “example and guidance” to other institutions.

“Once the clinical information system is fully implemented, we look forward sharing our experience as a resource for other provinces who are looking to embark upon a similar province-wide implementation.”

The portal will expand to the greater Halifax area in the spring, Thompson said.

• Burner phones, security warnings and no ‘megaphones’: How Carney’s trip to Beijing struck a surprising new tone with China
• The bizarre reason Greenland was colonized by Denmark

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The body of a 19-year-old Canadian woman was discovered on an Australian island reportedly surrounded by a pack of dingoes.

Police were called to the beach on K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island, around 6:35 a.m. local time due to reports that a woman was unresponsive. The island is located off of the Queensland coast. Police believe she “may have gone for a swim around 5 a.m.,” according to a

news release

. The woman was found north of the

Maheno shipwreck

, an ocean liner that was driven ashore during a cyclone in 1935. It is a popular tourist attraction.

“I can confirm that the dingoes had physically been in contact with the body,” said police Insp. Paul Algie, the

Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported

.

“There (were) markings on her body consistent with having been touched and interfered with by the dingoes.”

However, cause of death has yet to be determined.

The woman, who was has not been identified, was working at a backpacker hostel on K’gari. She had been living and working on the island with a friend for six weeks, said Algie,

according to news.com.au

.

“(Her friend) is very traumatized. She’s been supported by her friends at the backpackers’ (hostel) where they were working,” he said.

Two men were driving past the area and saw about 10 dingoes surrounding the body, the publication reported.

“We simply can’t confirm whether this young lady drowned or died as a result of being attacked by dingoes,” said Algie.

“K’gari is a wilderness area, dingoes are wild animals, and while they are very culturally and significant to the local First Nations people and to the people that live on the island, they are still wild animals and need to be treated as such.”

He said that authorities could not specify cause of death until the body was examined and urged anyone with information to come forward. He also warned people not to feed or go near the dingoes on the island.

The body was taken to Queensland on Monday,

The Independent reported

. According to ABC, police contacted the RCMP.

Global Affairs Canada and the RCMP did not immediately return National Post’s request for comment.

K’gari is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is the largest sand island in the world.

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Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat and Chinese detainee, weighed in on Canada’s newly announced trade arrangements with China following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meetings with President Xi Jinping this week.

In a series of social media posts on Saturday, Kovrig, who spent more than three years in the Chinese Communist Party’s custody following the arrest of a Huawei executive in 2018, warned that the long-term risks could outweigh the short-term economic relief.

On Friday, Carney announced a deal that would allow 49,000 Chinese-manufactured electric vehicles (EVs) into Canada annually at a tariff rate of six per cent, down from the 100 per cent tariff announced by the previous Liberal government in lock-step with the previous U.S. administration. In exchange, China has agreed to reduce tariffs on some Canadian canola products, excluding canola oil, and certain seafood products from between 25 and 85 per cent to either zero or 15 per cent.

In

one post on X

, Kovrig said the visit, the first by a Canadian prime minister since 2018, “was never just a courtesy call.” He posited that China was in search of tangible wins on EV access, energy and political cooperation.

“With Canada–U.S. relations under strain, the General Secretary smelled blood in the water and seized a moment of increased leverage,” Kovrig wrote.

“Carney secured limited relief for farmers and reopened dialogue channels, but Xi kept his pressure tools and is sure to keep using them.”

What to make of PM Carney’s first official visit to China? This was never just a courtesy call. Xi Jinping framed the visit as a “turning point” because the CCP wants concrete things from Canada, including market access for its hypersubsidized EVs, stable energy supplies, and… pic.twitter.com/UEfL5UgFmF

— Michael Kovrig (@MichaelKovrig) January 17, 2026

He compared the situation to a “rope-a-dope,” in which one side takes blows to wait out long-term advantage in a fight and said Canada should diversify exports “for vulnerable sectors” and figure out how to protect its own vehicle industry and “cybersecurity defences” amidst an influx of Chinese EVs.

In another post, he said Canada “should be able to sell China commodities like food and energy without weakening its national security.” He warned, however, that too much reliance on the Chinese market affords the CCP even more political leverage.

“That’s how pressure and elite capture accumulates — quietly, agreement by agreement, not through one dramatic concession,” he wrote.

“The lesson? Start small, keep deals reversible, protect the industrial base, and draw red lines around national security, foreign interference, coercion, and human rights abuses.

China’s Xi told Canada’s Carney their two governments should “adhere to the proper way for states to get along with one another.” Question: Does the “proper way” now include NOT taking citizens hostage and torturing them to coerce policy changes? pic.twitter.com/kRa9og0l3a

— Michael Kovrig (@MichaelKovrig) January 17, 2026

Kovrig also opined on Chinese steel, highlighting a January 2025 ruling from Canada’s International Trade Tribunal that determined that steel strapping dumped from China had caused injury to Canadian producers, leading to new anti-dumping and countervailing duties.

He said the case is an example of the importance of keeping trade enforcement separate from diplomatic matters.

“Dialogue with Beijing can continue, but it shouldn’t dilute investigations, penalties, or expectations around compliance,” he posted.

Kovrig also took issue with the optics of the visit, writing on another post with a video of Carney and Jinping shaking hands: “Diplomacy is necessary. Grinning is optional. This is not a good look.”

• Burner phones, security warnings and no ‘megaphones’: How Carney’s trip to Beijing struck a surprising new tone with China
• ‘Fix this mess’: Doug Ford rips Carney’s deal to loosen EV tariffs on China

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BEIJING — In April 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney was standing on the stage of the federal election leaders’ debate when he was asked to identify the greatest threat to Canada’s national security.

Without hesitation, Carney declared: “China.”

On Thursday, Carney stood at a podium in Beijing’s Ritan Park and beamed as he announced a new “strategic partnership” with China that aims to increase trade, communication and collaboration between both countries.

It also makes a strong push for Chinese EV investments in Canada with the eventual objective of having a manufacturing plant established in Canada.

If the swing in tone gives you whiplash, you’re not alone. So, what changed in those nine months?

It’s hard to tell.

Ask Carney if he still believes China to be the greatest threat to Canada’s national security and he’ll skirt the issue.

“The security landscape continues to change in a world that is more dangerous and divided. We face many threats,” Carney told reporters in response to that question during the press conference in Ritan Park.

“My responsibility as prime minister is to manage those threats by building resilience, building security,” he added. “The threat environment has increased, the risks have multiplied, so too has our resilience and our engagement.”

Ask any other Liberal minister to explain the change and they’ll stick to roughly the same script, almost to the point where one wonders if Carney regrets pointing the finger at China back in April.

The world is changing largely due to the “transformational” presidency of U.S. President Donald Trump, the Liberals will say. So, Canada needs to diversify its trading partners and China is a prime candidate because it’s a more predictable partner than the U.S. now, they’ll add.

Likely also on the Liberals’ mind is Trump’s National Security Strategy released in December that aims to restore “American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere,” the constant threat of new U.S. tariffs against Canada and statements by top U.S. officials declaring they want to draw away Canadian auto manufacturing.

Comments like those are pushing Canada to seek non-U.S. partners to boost its fledgling EV industry. China’s EV industry, largely considered a world leader in both manufacturing and technological advancement, became a prime candidate.

That’s despite concerns that the technology in the vehicles could be used by China to spy on users and pose a threat to foreign countries’ national security.

The Carney government says its taking precautions in its dealing with China, described by Canada’s national security agencies as the most sophisticated and able threat actor facing the country.

Carney said Canada discussed its expectations and “red lines” with the Chinese government last week with respect to foreign interference and other public safety issues.

He also promised that the government was going into this new “strategic partnership” with “clear eyes” and guardrails preventing China from investing in certain sensitive industries. He recently cited artificial intelligence and critical minerals as examples.

But will that be enough to prevent China from continuing to be the most sophisticated and prevalent cyber and foreign interference actor against Canada, as described by Canada’s national security agencies?

In the meantime, the public service’s concerns about security while in China were certainly obvious from the start of the trip.

One hour before Can Force One entered Chinese airspace Wednesday, all public servants and political staff were required to power down their usual work and personal devices and stash them in a Faraday bag.

While in Beijing, they all used “burner” devices, which were promptly returned as soon as the delegation’s plane left Chinese airspace Saturday.

There’s no need to use burners in Qatar and Switzerland — the next stops on the eight-day trip — showing that not all allies are on equal security footing.

Carney’s emphasis at the end of the trip was on the restoration of Canada’s trade, political and cultural relationships with China, which are emerging from eight years of deep frost.

After his meeting with President Xi Jinping, the prime minister proudly announced a new “strategic partnership” with the Asian superpower built on five pillars: energy, increased trade, international governance, public safety and security, and increased “people-to-people” ties.

Part of the deal was an agreement that China would drop many of its crippling tariffs on Canadian canola. In exchange, the federal government would exempt up to 49,000 Chinese EVs from 100 per cent tariffs this year all the while pushing for Chinese auto manufacturers to build production capacity in Canada.

“We are building a web of new connections with China to create new, transformative opportunities for Canadian workers, and more stability, certainty, and prosperity on both sides of the Pacific,” he told Canadian and Chinese reporters.

Truth be told, everything about Carney’s trip to China felt like a hard break from the Trudeau era. In fact, Carney seemed more inclined to implicitly criticize his Liberal predecessor than his Chinese hosts.

Instead of Justin Trudeau’s public insistence that China do more on human and women’s rights, Carney spoke occasionally of “values-based realism” and “differences.”

“We respect the differences in each other’s systems. It does mean that our cooperation is more focused, more limited,” he said.

“We don’t grab a megaphone and have the conversations that way,” he added in an obvious swipe at Trudeau. “We take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be.”

The China section of the Trudeau government’s 2022 Indo-Pacific strategy, written during the

height of the “two Michaels” saga

and presented by then-Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly (now industry minister under Carney), also appears to have gone by the wayside.

The document described the Asian behemoth as “an increasingly disruptive global power” that “increasingly disregards” international rules and norms.

“China is looking to shape the international order into a more permissive environment for interests and values that increasingly depart from ours,” reads the document.

And yet throughout the Beijing trip, the Carney government described China as a key partner in supporting multilateral institutions left in the lurch as a still-unclear “new world order” replaces the one previously led by the United States.

Gone are the words “disruptive” or “disregards” from the federal government’s lexicon on China, replaced by terms such as “partner” and “China’s strengths.”

Carney distanced himself from the Trudeau-era policy while in China.

“I wasn’t a member of the government at the time,” Carney told reporters about the 2022 policy Thursday. “I wasn’t there; it wasn’t my view.”

The world is changing quickly, becoming more unstable and dangerous, the Liberals note repeatedly. That’s why the government is reworking its foreign policy, its Indo-Pacific strategy and is set to release a new auto-sector strategy in February. And it’s happening on the fly.

As one senior government official told reporters on the plane out of Beijing:

“I’m just dealing with sh– as it starts.”

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our politics newsletter, First Reading, here.

DOHA, QATAR — What do Céline Dion, Shania Twain, Michael Bublé, Bryan Adams and his Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani have in common?

They are all sounds Prime Minister Mark Carney heard during a formal lunch with Qatar’s leadership Sunday.

During a lunch with Qatar’s authoritarian leader to formalize a new “strategic partnership,” Carney and the Canadian delegation were regaled by music from a small ensemble of a dozen musicians from the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra.

The tunes accompanied a regal meal of lobster, beef and camel meat in the emir’s palatial Amiri Diwan, the leader’s official office building.

The playlist was a blend of Arabic and Canadian music, the latter being an eclectic mix of iconic Canadiana from the ’80s, ’90s and 2000s.

Apparently, Qatari leadership is quite fond of Céline Dion, whose songs composed 20 per cent of the 10-song playlist.

The musical ensemble kicked off with Dion’s 1994 smash hit The Power of Love

It was followed by Shania Twain’s You’re Still The One in which she sings about two partners staying together despite obstacles and naysayers.

Dion’s music reappeared later in the meal with a rendition of her legendary Titanic theme My Heart Will Go On.

But the musical energy picked right back up again when the orchestra continued with Bryan Adams’ rock classic Summer of 69.

Michael Bublé’s Haven’t Met You Yet was next on the playlist of the meeting between both leaders and their entourages.

Interspersed throughout the Canadian tunes were Arabic classics such as the musical poem Lamma Bada Yatathanna and Qatari song Adeilk Ya Adolha.

But nowhere in sight were songs from more contemporary Canadian stars such as Drake, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber or Tate McRae.

What’s particularly exceptional about the playlist is that the Canadian delegation had no part in its planning. Rather, the song choices were entirely made by the Qataris. Generally, the hosting delegation will ask Canada’s foreign service to provide musical recommendations for their bands or playlists. But not this time.

During the meal, Carney and the emir put the final touches on a partnership that the prime minister says involves a commitment by Qatar to invest significantly in yet-unidentified “nation-building projects” in Canada.

“We are announcing an ambitious new partnership. We are deepening our ties across trade, investment, defence, and AI,” Carney told reporters after the meeting.

After years of delays, the prime minister said both governments also agreed to prioritize negotiations for a new Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement and begin new ones for a double taxation deal that aims to increase mobility between both countries.

Carney also said he invited the emir to attend the Canada vs. Qatar soccer World Cup game in Vancouver, B.C., this summer.

On Sunday morning, Carney was greeted by a grand welcoming display by Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that involved a procession of camels and horses, a band and a small military inspection.

On Monday, the prime minister will travel to Davos, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum annual summit.

National Post

cnardi@postmedia.com

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