Juno News - March 16, 2026


Carney vows to defend Greenland ＂with measures as necessary＂

Mentioned
Mark Carney Trump Bill Blair Joe Varner Starmer Nineveh
Why did it take TWO WEEKS to learn that Iran BOMBED Canadian troops？ Liberals FLIP AGAIN on possible military role in Iran

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Length

21 minutes

Words per minute

152.5

Word count

3,269

Sentence count

104

Harmful content

Hate speech

8

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

If a country within the NATO alliance tries to take over Greenland, would Canada be ready to contribute with military forces and actually put up military resistance to protect Greenland? Well, Prime Minister Mark Carney says he would back Greenland s sovereignty with necessary measures if it were threatened with military takeover by a NATO partner.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Well, Prime Minister Carney says he would back Greenland's sovereignty with necessary measures
00:00:10.620 if it were threatened with military takeover. Carney was in Oslo, Norway on the weekend and
00:00:16.600 was asked if Canada would take military action to protect Greenland if it was threatened by a NATO
00:00:22.660 partner. Obvious reference to the United States, which has talked about exerting control over
00:00:28.700 Greenland. If a country within the NATO alliance tries to take over Greenland, would Canada then
00:00:35.280 be ready to contribute with military forces and actually put up military resistance to protect
00:00:41.320 Greenland? Well, the first thing I'd say, thank you for the question. We stand foursquare behind
00:00:49.320 the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity. It is for the people of Greenland
00:00:54.480 and Denmark to decide their futures and first point being absolutely clear about that being
00:01:01.120 clear that we will back that with measures as necessary as a partner and be I think the
00:01:09.700 fact that we and others have been clear I don't want to put it on Canada but European
00:01:14.580 Union others have been clear about these fundamental principles and principle of solidarity has
00:01:20.800 has helped to create the space, which always should have been there, to be clear, to develop
00:01:28.120 a better security umbrella in the Arctic, but also including Greenland.
00:01:32.840 So we're clear on where we stand and we will continue to stand with Denmark and Greenland.
00:01:37.040 Thank you.
00:01:38.040 Carney then flew to London, UK, where Canada has joined some NATO allies in rejecting calls
00:01:43.780 by the US to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for oil tanker traffic.
00:01:49.880 Bill Blair, Canada's high commissioner to the U.K., had this to say about it.
00:01:53.540 The U.S. has asked its allies to send military vessels.
00:01:57.640 Britain has sent a ship.
00:02:00.560 Does Canada have the resources to send if it's called upon to do so?
00:02:04.420 To my knowledge, Canada has not yet made any commitment to send any of our naval assets
00:02:09.240 in into the region.
00:02:11.180 We're aware of what the United Kingdom does.
00:02:12.680 I'm sure that will form part of the discussion that our prime ministers will have tomorrow.
00:02:17.380 But right now, Canada has, as the Prime Minister has been so clear, Canada has no intention
00:02:21.660 that we were not part of the initial discussion and we are not participating in that conflict.
00:02:27.140 Prime Minister Starmer says he favours talks over intervention aimed at reopening the Strait.
00:02:34.260 Ultimately, we have to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to ensure stability in the market.
00:02:43.540 is not a simple task. So we're working with all of our allies, including our European partners,
00:02:52.740 to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region
00:03:00.260 as quickly as possible. President Trump says that European countries in particular have
00:03:06.660 a stake in protecting the strait from Iranian mines. Remember, it only takes a couple of people
00:03:13.540 to screw up the strait, a couple of terrorists.
00:03:15.620 You don't need their militaries to beat it.
00:03:19.040 But all you need is a few people dropping mines here and there,
00:03:22.200 and, you know, you louse it up.
00:03:24.160 So we need, I would, really, I'm demanding that these countries come in 1.00
00:03:29.940 and protect their own territory, because it is their territory.
00:03:33.180 It's the place from which they get their energy.
00:03:38.700 And they should come, and they should help us protect it.
00:03:42.320 you could make the case that maybe we shouldn't be there at all because we don't need it we have a
00:03:47.440 lot of oil now iran bombed the canada's military base in kuwait early on in the conflict the fact
00:03:53.680 kept secret from the canadian public until it was leaked to the media our guest today is joe varner
00:03:59.600 who is senior fellow at the mcdonald laurier institute welcome joe great to be here i've got
00:04:06.240 You got to play that clip of Mark Carney again, saying that he would back Greenland's sovereignty
00:04:11.960 with, quote, necessary measures or measures as necessary if it were threatened with military
00:04:17.580 takeover by a NATO partner.
00:04:20.820 It was an obvious reference to the United States.
00:04:23.340 Let's listen to that.
00:04:24.140 If a country within the NATO alliance tries to take over Greenland, would Canada then
00:04:30.240 be ready to contribute with military forces and actually put up military resistance to
00:04:35.900 protect Greenland well the first thing I'd say thank you for the question we
00:04:41.840 stand foursquare behind the principles of sovereignty territorial integrity it
00:04:48.260 is for the people of Greenland and Denmark to decide their futures and
00:04:52.940 first point being absolutely clear about that being clear that we will back that
00:04:58.700 with measures as necessary as a partner and being I think the fact that we in
00:05:05.880 others have been clear I don't want to put it on Canada but European Union
00:05:09.900 others have been clear about these fundamental principles and the principle
00:05:14.040 of solidarity has helped to create the space which always should have been
00:05:19.320 there to be clear to develop a better security umbrella in the Arctic but also
00:05:26.160 including Greenland so we're clear on where we stand and we will continue to
00:05:30.600 stand with Denmark and Greenland thank you okay what I heard him say was back
00:05:34.620 green lands sovereignty with measures as necessary and that was done within the
00:05:40.200 context of a question an explicit question about whether Canada would
00:05:43.980 provide military aid to resist a fellow NATO partner with designs on taking over
00:05:52.860 Greenland what did you hear there me it was a word salad like I said it was kind
00:05:58.680 like a yes prime minister episode uh i'm i'm i i suspect that the prime minister is not quite
00:06:06.520 certain how he he needs to answer that question um and particularly uh you know it's it's kind of a
00:06:15.240 silly scenario one i think it's very unlikely the united states is going to invade greenland
00:06:21.080 And two, I think it's very silly to suggest that NATO would actually stand in with military forces to take on the United States.
00:06:33.600 Canada really would find itself in quite a hot spot if it did that.
00:06:38.800 Yeah, I mean, the idea that Canada, with the military it has, you know, to take some kind of position, military position against the United States over Greenland seems preposterous. I mean, we'd have a hard enough time defending our own country.
00:06:54.800 yeah i mean keep in mind that nato has has these little uh little uh cleavages uh greece and turkey
00:07:04.080 uh always uh seem to get into it with one another and make threats particularly over cyprus uh the
00:07:11.680 united kingdom and gibraltar go back or united kingdom and spain go back and forth on gibraltar
00:07:17.280 so disputes over territory within nato countries is not unusual and it's and it's not a new found
00:07:25.640 thing but it is uh weird and wonderful that that people suggest that we're going to take military
00:07:32.120 action against one another um i think i think that kind of kind of stretches it yeah but he
00:07:39.540 could have ducked that question by saying well it's extremely unlikely that would happen and
00:07:43.620 will deal with it were, you know, in the extreme unlikely event that it did, but he actually
00:07:49.640 seemed to suggest that we were going to defend Greenland with our military, which is a bit
00:07:55.100 of an eye-opener. But he had an eventful week because we found out, of course, that Iran 1.00
00:08:00.800 did bomb Canada's military base in Kuwait early on in the conflict, a fact that it was
00:08:06.820 kept secret from the Canadian public for, I believe, 11 days. And it was only discovered
00:08:12.880 because of a leak to the media and then when he was asked about he said well you know we have other
00:08:17.360 spokesmen around to address issues like that to me it was a bizarre response what did you make of
00:08:24.560 that uh i met i made of that that the government is very sensitive on the issue probably overly
00:08:31.600 sensitive on the issue because the prime minister has problems with his own uh own party and caucus
00:08:38.080 on what Canada's response should be.
00:08:41.700 The response has changed four times,
00:08:43.460 and I think people are actually confused
00:08:46.420 where Canada stands on the war with Iran right now.
00:08:51.880 And I think he has problems with his support
00:08:55.460 in terms of the NDP.
00:08:57.160 So the prime minister, I think,
00:08:59.820 wanted to avoid it until it became public,
00:09:02.880 which is different from our other native allies.
00:09:05.720 Keep in mind, the Iranians went after the French naval base Niwaii. They went after the Spanish and Italians in Iraq. They went after Canada and Kuwait. They went after the British bases in Cyprus. They fired three ballistic missiles at Turkey, all of which was reported fairly quickly and responded to honestly and openly by the countries that had taken attacks on them.
00:09:35.720 their forces. The one that seems to have, you know, held back and tried to avoid it becoming
00:09:40.880 public was Canada. Are you suggesting, and forgive me if you're not, but that he was in
00:09:49.320 negotiations with the NDP member from Nunavut, Idlaut, and during that time, he may have been
00:09:59.020 afraid that if it had come out, that we were attacked, and that if he had taken more of a
00:10:09.180 forceful position countering that attack, because there would have been pressure on
00:10:14.300 Canada to respond to an unprovoked attack from Iran, that that somehow would have 0.76
00:10:20.240 undermined negotiations with this new Democrat from Nineveh?
00:10:24.740 I'm not suggesting that, but I am suggesting that if he wants to keep his support in the House, within his own party, because he's in a minority situation, and the support of the NDP, he can't take a forceful position, as he did early on in the war, saying he was supportive of regime change in Iran with those issues in this caucus and with his supporter in the House, the NDP.
00:10:53.140 So I'm not suggesting that it was part of any negotiations.
00:10:57.140 I think that it was what he could do to maintain the support in the house.
00:11:02.140 And they clearly, the government's very nervous about that.
00:11:06.140 Isn't it possible that if it had come out that our base in Kuwait was bombed in an unprovoked attack,
00:11:15.140 that there would have been support at the public level in favor of what the United States and Israel were doing,
00:11:22.140 doing and that there would have been pressure on Canada to respond somehow and he preferred
00:11:27.260 to keep that under wraps because he didn't want at the end of the day really for Canada to get
00:11:33.100 involved. Is that a possibility do you think? I think it's very plausible and what I would
00:11:38.860 say is I don't think Canada's got a lot right now to contribute and it would take some time to get
00:11:44.460 that that sort of thing into theater outside of you know fighter aircraft. I think we'd be hard
00:11:51.260 pressed to respond to a request right now to get a ship to the Persian Gulf in a fast fashion. So
00:11:58.620 I think that the prime minister is hoping to avoid the whole issue.
00:12:04.540 What about the Strait of Hormuz right now and calls by President Trump to have support. He didn't name
00:12:12.380 Canada specifically, but he was talking about generally his NATO partners that would do what
00:12:18.300 they could to keep the strait clear of Iranian minds. And as far as I know, Canada thus far has
00:12:26.220 declined to play any role whatsoever, along with several of others in NATO in terms of its partners.
00:12:34.380 What do you make of that situation? Well, I think that the United States is now calling on its
00:12:40.860 allies to to get involved and uh you know there aren't too many takers uh germany has said no
00:12:48.380 they don't see it as a nato operation the uk has said no they don't see it as a as a nato operation
00:12:55.580 canada has said no spain has said no italy has said no and greece has said no and in the pacific
00:13:03.020 Australia is is a no and Japan says they're looking at it and and South Korea says maybe
00:13:11.820 so there aren't too many takers among US allies right now to to walk in and try and keep the
00:13:18.600 Strait of Hormuz open but I would submit that there hasn't been an attack on on a commercial
00:13:24.060 ship from what I can tell since the first of my or sorry since the 11th of March
00:13:29.180 Should Canada at least offer to help in any way it can, given our strained relations with
00:13:38.640 the Trump administration right now and the fact that we've got CUSMA negotiations coming
00:13:43.600 up with that country and that could further strain things, what do you make of that?
00:13:48.120 Yeah, I guess what I would say is that I think that when you have a principal ally that you're
00:13:55.320 as closely um a link to as the united states in terms of canada that when when your ally goes to
00:14:02.680 war whether you like it or not you probably have a duty to go with them and i think that you know
00:14:09.320 canada should be backing the u.s play i mean keep in mind like i've said before iran is a country
00:14:17.960 that for 47 years has floated international laws uh made threats it's carried out terrorist attacks
00:14:26.040 as far away as argentina uh it's it's a regime that that really has had this kind of coming
00:14:34.360 towards them for a long time kind of like a freight train sooner or later that that someone
00:14:39.240 was going to settle affairs with with iran and i mean iran was at the point that it was close to
00:14:44.840 having a nuclear weapon maybe as many as 11. uh its proxy militias were uh uh terrorizing
00:14:52.440 the middle east and uh and threatening a number of uh u.s allies uh its its missile and drone
00:15:01.000 forces were going to the point that they would be able to take uh on the the united states and
00:15:07.240 Israel and their regional neighbors in a very effective fashion, and probably with a degree
00:15:16.560 of impunity. And I don't think anyone wants to see a nuclear-armed Iran, given that they've 0.99
00:15:23.240 attacked all their neighbors and civilian targets, and some neighbors that aren't even involved.
00:15:28.660 uh yeah i mean it seems to me that iran's only hope at this point is that they can push the
00:15:40.700 price of oil so high that americans canadians many others saying enough already and call for
00:15:49.380 a ceasefire in order to open up the straight form was i suspect that that's where keir starmer wants
00:15:55.560 ago and Mark Carney and the rest of them, that they'll turn around and say, well, in
00:16:03.000 exchange for a ceasefire, then we'll open up the Strait of Hormuz and Iran would jump 0.85
00:16:09.820 at something like that, which I don't think is what Trump wants.
00:16:15.000 And so I would ask as well, why wouldn't the Europeans be more helpful here?
00:16:22.140 I mean, they're benefiting as much as anybody from oil coming through the Strait, aren't they?
00:16:28.680 I think so.
00:16:29.860 I mean, a lot of the oil that goes out of the Strait goes to the Asian and to Japan and South Korea and to China.
00:16:40.240 90% of the Iranian oil goes to China.
00:16:43.620 So I think there's an onus on everybody to keep the Strait open.
00:16:48.480 I mean, freedom of navigation is a pretty widely respected rule of law piece.
00:16:55.840 And in a naval choke point like the Strait of Hormuz or the Suez Canal, or you can go through the naval choke points around the world, that freedom of navigation is very important to trade.
00:17:08.880 So I think the Europeans do have a duty to get involved, and I think NATO and the EU have a duty to get involved.
00:17:15.480 I think everybody's a little bit nervous, but what I would say is that I think that the United States and Israel have done such a number on Iranian forces along the southern coast, their missile bases and their drones and their stocks of mines and their navy, 100 ships destroyed to date.
00:17:34.560 And they've carried out attacks on the islands that sit in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Persian Gulf to push back the Iranian threat from the waters. 0.92
00:17:48.200 And I think that sooner or later, the Iranians will find themselves moving backwards. 1.00
00:17:56.100 And do you have any thoughts about how the war is going thus far?
00:18:00.260 And whether or not it would make sense to, and I know that there's a huge controversy around boots on the ground, but to occupy Karg Island, what do you think of that?
00:18:13.620 Well, what I would say is the war opened with a decapitation strike on the Iranian leadership, which looks like it was pretty successful. 0.99
00:18:21.120 We've seen them suppress the Iranian air defenses, largely destroy the Iranian Navy and Air Force.
00:18:27.980 And we've seen the missile and the drone attacks come down by as much as 90 and 95%.
00:18:35.440 So those three objectives, wearing down their missile and drone stocks,
00:18:42.760 decapitation strike, and clearing away Iran's conventional forces that are a threat,
00:18:50.320 I think has been done fairly successfully to date.
00:18:54.220 what what we don't kind of have a knowledge of is is the state of their iranian nuclear program
00:19:01.980 which was a key objective destroying and dismantling that and the other thing that
00:19:07.500 you know we're still waiting on is whether or not we're going to see regime change
00:19:11.180 and whether or not that will be successful um so so far i mean the campaign's gone very well
00:19:18.160 for the United States and Israel.
00:19:20.740 But, you know, campaigns aren't won,
00:19:22.700 wars aren't won in the number of bombs that you drop
00:19:25.760 or the number of drones that you have
00:19:27.980 or number of ships that you sink.
00:19:33.500 Wars are won by strategy.
00:19:36.780 And, you know, this is a phase of the war,
00:19:41.700 whether or not the United States and Israel
00:19:43.520 are going to win in the end
00:19:44.600 and dismantle that nuclear program
00:19:46.200 and get the regime change that they want in iran the big open-ended questions yeah i think
00:19:54.040 that iran certainly looks like it's it's on the ropes i mean it's in big big trouble but if their
00:20:00.040 regime can hang on somehow and perpetuate itself they can they can declare victory at the end of
00:20:08.200 it all you know what i'm you know what i'm saying last word to you absolutely and and the iranian
00:20:13.080 revolutionary guard they're in charge they're running the country uh and and right now they're
00:20:18.520 not going anywhere uh that that may change as as the israelis go down through their target list
00:20:25.240 and keep eliminating uh senior members of the iranian revolutionary garden and regime it's when
00:20:33.080 their lives become more valuable than being part of the regime and the regime fragments and fractures
00:20:39.400 that you're going to see people out in the streets
00:20:43.200 and you're going to see the regime change.
00:20:45.840 Now, what that regime change is going to look like
00:20:47.900 may be a surprise to everyone, too.
00:20:50.960 Right now, it's a hardline Revolutionary Yard Corps regime.
00:20:55.960 Does that change?
00:20:57.160 Do we see, you know, different players emerge?
00:21:03.760 Those are big, big questions.
00:21:07.000 Joe Varner, thank you so much for coming on the show.
00:21:09.100 We appreciate it.
00:21:10.100 Thank you.
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00:21:24.900 Thank you.
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