Canada-EU talks explore live-and-work rights for Canadians
Speaking to reporters at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Carney said “We’re not looking to become a member of the European Union,” calling the goal instead “a unique alliance between Canada and the European Union” built on shared values, reported IMI Daily.
Global mobility planning
Freedom of movement inside the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) is tied to citizenship, not residency, so any deal would affect Canadian passport holders before permanent residents. That distinction matters for global mobility planning, a topic Canadian HR Reporter has explored in coverage of whether immigration can offset the country’s aging workforce.
Serhan Aysever, managing partner at Beyond Global Partners in the United Kingdom, said broader mobility rights would “significantly enhance the value of the Canadian passport,” making citizenship “even more attractive to internationally mobile families and investors,” according to the IMI Daily report.
He was equally clear on the difficulty involved, describing any framework as “a significant policy shift around free movement, residence and employment rights for a non-EU country” and “a serious and potentially lengthy policy process” that would take years to negotiate, according to the article.
‘Highly speculative’
Charlie Maggi, founder and CEO of The Open World in France, called the reports “politically significant, but still highly speculative.” A narrow, sector-specific deal looks more likely to him than universal access across all industries, according to IMI Daily.
