Canada and Europe were drawn a little closer together Monday after Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a strategic defence and security partnership with the European Union.

The agreement opens the door for Canadian companies to participate in the $1.25-trillion ReArm Europe program, which is seen as a step toward making Canada less reliant on — and less vulnerable to — the whims of the United States.

Eventually, it will also help the Canadian government partner with other allied nations to buy military equipment under what's known as the SAFE program.

"It will help us deliver on our new requirements for capabilities more rapidly and more effectively, it will help build our industries, secure our jurisdictions," Carney said at the closing news conference of the Canada-EU summit in Brussels

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