How Carney Plans to Sell Canada to the World’s Biggest Investors – BBC News
BBC Homepage | Skip to content | Accessibility Help
Your account | Home | News | Sport | Earth | Reel | Worklife | Travel | Culture | Future | Music | TV | Weather | Sounds
Carney gambles on the world’s biggest investors betting on Canada
Image source: Reuters
By Michael Race, Business and Economics Reporter, and Jessica Murphy, Canada Digital Editor
Published 12 minutes ago
It’s been over 18 months since Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared his country’s relationship with the United States, built on over a century of economic and military cooperation, was "over." Trade talks collapsing, tit-for-tat tariffs, and Donald Trump’s talk of making Canada a "51st state" have fueled this bitter feud between the two North American neighbors.
Now, as Canada’s top pitchman, Carney is leveraging personal relationships from his time in global finance to attract some of the world’s wealthiest asset managers and business leaders to invest in his country.
For two days, Toronto will host over 100 global investors overseeing more than C$100tn ($72tn; £53) in assets, hoping new economic relationships will help Canada navigate an increasingly unstable geopolitical climate.
"Canada has what the world wants," said Carney ahead of this "first-of-its-kind" investment summit.
On Monday and Tuesday, a luxury hotel will welcome guests from major sovereign wealth funds worldwide—including those from the United Arab Emirates and Norway—and CEOs from prominent financial companies like BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Blackstone president Jon Gray.
Carney aims to pitch them on Canada’s energy and resource sectors, along with its political stability, hoping they’ll invest in AI, defense, transportation, and infrastructure projects across the country.
This strategy aims to build a "more independent, more resilient economy" for Canada following the tariff war with the US, which has intensified recently.
Challenges Stand in the Way
However, there’s no guarantee these deep-pocketed investors will be easily won over, and obstacles include Canada’s history of lengthy project approvals.
A recent report by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, a co-host of the summit, noted that while global capital seeks opportunities, "opportunity alone does not make a market investible."
Naomi Powell, Director of the CPP Investments Insight Institute
"Global capital is looking for opportunity, but opportunity alone does not make a market investible," she said.
While shifting away from its closest business partner will be a test for Carney, his extensive network of contacts in the global finance world—many on first-name terms—may prove beneficial.
"These were personal invites in many cases, literally," said Goldy Hyder, President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada.
"It’s not a group of politicians inviting financiers; it’s a group of former financiers and investment people inviting their former buddies," added Miville Tremblay, who worked with Carney for several years at the Bank of Canada and witnessed his skills during the 2008 global financial crisis.
"He was way above everyone," he said. "He understands finance very deeply. [He] would know when they are bluffing and when the understatement meant that something really bad was happening."
