Anand to deliver Canada's UN speech as Carney skips address
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand will speak at the UN General Assembly on Friday, covering Ukraine, the Middle East and Arctic sovereignty.
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand will address the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Sept. 26, 2026.
Anand will deliver the speech instead of Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose officials said he could not deliver Canada’s address due to scheduling issues.
She is slated to speak around 5 p.m. local time in New York, following the foreign ministers of Oman and Tunisia.
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Anand has said her speech will touch on support for Ukraine, the Middle East and Arctic sovereignty.
It will also address the middle-power strategy Prime Minister Mark Carney outlined at the start of this year.
On Friday, Anand said Canada does not lean back from uncomfortable conversations.
If people “hide under a rock until conflicts disappear, you’re not doing the work of diplomacy,”
she said.
Carney's absence from the podium
Prime Minister Mark Carney was at the UN from Monday to Wednesday but will not deliver the national address.
His officials attributed his absence from the speaking slot to scheduling issues.
This has drawn criticism in some online commentary, with one comment on a Global News article suggesting Carney was avoiding an “actual opportunity” and another speculating he was attending a meeting for Brookfield, the asset management firm he led before entering politics.
A commenter asked, “Must be attending a pretty important Brookfield meeting to skip a UN speech.”
Another wrote, “Carney ditches Parliament to do nothing at the UN, then ditches them when an actual opportunity to be a PM presents itself.”
The notes do not contain any official reaction from the Prime Minister’s Office beyond the cited scheduling explanation.
A speech amid global tensions
Anand’s planned topics reflect ongoing international crises.
Her mention of the Middle East comes as conflict continues in Gaza and as some online commenters preemptively criticized her stance.
One comment on The Lethbridge Herald’s article accused Anand of ignoring facts and supporting “the terrorist Palestinian side,” alleging the speech would be “full of antisemitic, pro-Palestinian garbage.”
Another commenter on Global News criticized the UN as “a farce that lets war criminals walk free” and said the organization “condones genocide and allows garbage like Netanyahu and Trump to speak.”
Other commenters dismissed the UN as a “failed organization” and questioned Canada’s moral authority.
One wrote, “What is Canada going to say when the world asks why some sh*thole that occupies indigenous land thinks it has any moral authority at all?”
Anand’s pledge to discuss Ukraine follows a reported mass Russian air attack on the country as it celebrated its national army day.
Her speech will also reference Arctic sovereignty, a persistent file for Canada as climate change opens northern waters.
The middle-power framework
The address will connect to the middle-power strategy Carney outlined earlier in 2026.
This strategy, which Anand referenced, appears to be a guiding framework for the government’s foreign policy.
However, the concept was mocked in one online comment that called Canada a “worthless puppet state.”
The commenter wrote, “Hahaha. Clownada thinks its a middle power. You’re a worthless puppet state that the world doesn’t give a fig about.”
The notes do not provide further details on the strategy’s contents or how Anand plans to articulate it at the UN.
Carney’s recent diplomatic engagements included a brief meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington.
Other global events noted include fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo a day after a Trump peace deal ceremony, and the return of 62 Indigenous artifacts from the Vatican to First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples.
The end of the UN General Assembly debate is the next scheduled event for Canada’s diplomatic calendar following Anand’s address.
With files from The Canadian Press, Global News and CityNews