OTTAWA – Prime Minister Mark Carney is appointing a “personal representative” to the European Union to oversee trade and defence ties with the bloc, sunsetting a role that focused in part on human rights in the periphery of the continent.
John Hannaford, a former diplomat who also served as the highest-ranking official in the public service, will take up the new role as Carney’s envoy.
“This new role will prioritize increased trade and investment levels with EU partners, and new and deeper security arrangements that reinforce our already strong ties — ensuring that commitments by Canada and our partners are quickly delivered upon and implemented,” says a Wednesday news release from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The PMO said Hannaford will tap his experience with overseeing the public service to ensure federal departments are moving forward on their commitments to Canada’s strategic partnership with Europe, and on finding areas for co-operation.
The federal government announced a security and defence partnership with the EU in June that it says should allow Canada to partner with European firms under an EU loan program for defence projects.
Hannaford’s new job is distinct from the post of ambassador to the European Union — a post that has been vacant for months.
In the release, the PMO also announced that former federal Liberal leader Stéphane Dion will end his term as Canada’s ambassador to France in January.
Dion is also the “special envoy to the EU and Europe,” a broader job that sees him report to the cabinet as a whole — not just the prime minister. His responsibilities in that role include promoting democracy in non-EU states like Armenia.
Hannaford’s mandate is limited to the EU and will not include pursuing economic or defence ties with non-EU states like Norway, Switzerland and the U.K.
“This reflects the very high priority we put on Canada’s bilateral relationship with the EU and our desire to significantly expand and deepen that relationship,” the PMO wrote in an emailed statement.
Dion’s special envoy job ceases to exist in January. The government says Hannaford’s role is a new one, not a replacement for Dion’s envoy role.
Fen Hampson, a senior Carleton University professor of international affairs, said he sees a trend emerging of Carney using special envoys who answer to him “to beef up Canada’s transatlantic diplomacy.”
He said this includes Hannaford’s role and the recent appointment of former cabinet minister Chrystia Freeland as envoy for Ukraine’s reconstruction, “both of which are critical files.”
“We have a set of agreements and commitments now with the EU in the defence and economic that will require intensive follow-up and follow through,” he noted in an emailed comment.
Carney’s office said the ambassador postings to both Paris and the European Union will be filled “in due course.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2025.
