Prime Minister Mark Carney and Finnish President Alexander Stubb sat down in Ottawa fresh off Carney’s Liberals locking in a majority government, and the two leaders hit it off big time. They’re calling it “values-based realism” meets “principled pragmatism,” which is just a way of saying middle powers like Canada and Finland need to stick together in a chaotic world.

Here are the highlights:

Big defence dollars — Both countries are committing to spend 5% of GDP on defence and security by 2035. That’s beyond the old NATO 2% target.

Arctic sovereignty — They signed a Maritime MOU to boost Arctic icebreaker production through the ICE Pact. Canada’s north is not up for grabs.

Tech & AI — Nokia’s expanding its Ottawa facility, and both nations are teaming up on AI Gigafactories, quantum research, and critical minerals.

Russia watch — Stubb didn’t mince words: Russia is losing but dangerous, and we should brace for the Ukraine war to drag into another winter.

Hockey diplomacy — Carney and Stubb hit the ice with the Ottawa Charge of the PWHL. Because of course they did.

It’s a genuinely exciting shift in how Canada is showing up on the world stage, less reliant on the Americans, more plugged into European alliances.

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