Canada formally applied to join the UK led Joint Expeditionary Force. This appears to be a focus on moving away from US. Lets look at some of the moves together rather than one at a time and the pattern is clear: Canada became the first non EU country in the EU's defense procurement program. Joined the UK-Italy-Japan Global Combat Air Programme as an observer. Canada also cut its firm F-35 commitment from an originally planned 88 jets down to just 16.