5 things Canada and Finland have in common like the visit of the leader of the NATO ally – National
Finnish President Alexander Stubb is in Ottawa this week.
On Tuesday he stopped by Rideau Hall and the hockey rink before his first official meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. On Wednesday he held public talks on defence, Arctic security and industrial cooperation, including one with Industry Minister Mélanie Joly.
In a meeting held at the Prime Minister’s Office, Stubb said that he and Carney share values and interests and that in many ways he considers Canada to be an honorable member of the European Union and the Nordic nations.
Here are five things that Canada and Finland have in common:
Both of these countries are Arctic countries. About one-third of Finland’s land is above the Arctic Circle, and about 40 percent of Canada’s land is in the three northernmost regions.
In a joint statement last year, the countries said they were committed to pursuing a “peaceful, prosperous and stable” Arctic through ventures such as the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, an agreement with the US to manufacture icebreakers.
The statement also said that Canada and Finland are committed to promoting the rights and well-being of Indigenous peoples and northern communities.
NATO and military defense
Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) alliance in 2023 due to increased alarm about the threat posed by Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Canada was the first country to accept his request.
Get the latest country news
Get the best Canadian news delivered to your inbox as it happens so you never miss a trending story.
NATO’s annual report, released in March, shows that the Carney government has met the alliance’s key defense target for 2025 by spending just over $63 billion. For the first time since the end of the Cold War, Canada is spending nearly two percent of its GDP on national defense.
A NATO report said that Finland spent 2.87 percent of its GDP on national defense by 2025, equivalent to US $ 9 billion.
In a joint statement last year, Finland and Canada said they were committed to ensuring that Arctic and Northern perspectives are taken into account in NATO activities.
The Government of Canada’s website states that trade between Canada and Finland is estimated to be $2.4 billion by 2025. It says Canada exported $621.2 million and imported $1.8 billion in goods.
It says Canada’s trade relationship with Finland is focused on science, technology and innovation partnerships and investments.
The government says Canadian mining companies are also strong in northern Finland and Canadian firms are among the largest private sector employers in Lapland.
Two-way trade between Canada and Finland has increased by 33.5 percent since 2017, the website said.
The governments of Canada and the Nordic countries – Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Sweden and Finland – agreed last month in Oslo to continue working to protect Arctic sovereignty and deepen economic ties against other countries’ attempts to use technology and trade as a “coercive tool.”
At that meeting, the leaders discussed the need to expand trade and investment relations in response to US tariffs and Washington’s threats to annex Greenland.
Hockey is a very popular sport in Canada and Finland and the countries often play each other in high level tournaments.
At the 2026 Winter Olympics, Canada defeated Finland 3-2 in the men’s hockey semi-final – a game Stubb jokingly told Gov. Gen. Mary Simon on Tuesday that she does not want to talk about it.
In 2025, Team Canada advanced to the finals of the 4 Nations Face-Off after defeating Finland.
In 2022, Finland won gold at the IIHF World Championship after defeating Canada 4-3 in overtime.
Carney and Stubb skated with the Ottawa Charge of the PWHL in their tryouts Tuesday, running drills with the team and joking around about hockey.
Both Finland and Canada are considered stable middle powers in the world.
In Ottawa on Tuesday, Stubb said foreign policy often involves values, interests and power. He said the two countries sometimes produce energy and countries like Canada and Finland are stronger when they work together.
Carney pushed for middle powers to come together to push back against an attacking superpower – a theme that dominated his headline-grabbing speech in Davos, Switzerland in January.
In that speech he addressed to the World Economic Forum, Carney urged the middle powers to work together against the “American empire” and the efforts of the great powers to coerce and dominate small countries.
© 2026 The Canadian Press
