Carney gambles on the world's biggest investors betting on Canada — SkimNews
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- Mark Carney is hosting a two-day Toronto summit with 100+ global investors overseeing more than C$100tn ($72tn) in assets, including sovereign wealth funds from the UAE and Norway plus BlackRock's Larry Fink and Blackstone's Jon Gray
- Carney said roughly 18 months ago that Canada's century-old relationship with the United States was "over," citing collapsing trade talks, tit-for-tat tariffs, and Trump's "51st state" rhetoric as catalysts
- CPP Investments warned that "opportunity alone does not make a market investible," citing Canada's lengthy project approvals and limited scale of investible opportunities as the country's main weakness
- Trade exposure to the US equals roughly 20% of Canada's GDP — one of the highest bilateral trade shares between any two countries — making a permanent rupture economically punishing regardless of new investment
- Carney's pitch targets investment in AI, defence, transportation, infrastructure, and energy/resource sectors, drawing on contacts from his Goldman Sachs and Bank of Canada career to reach investors "on first-name terms"
- Critics note Carney is turning toward Saudi Arabia and China while softening climate commitments, and a University of Toronto professor warned a "valley of death" could open if new trade partnerships develop slower than the US rift deepens
Why it matters: Trade with the US accounts for 20% of Canada's GDP, so any permanent decoupling carries enormous economic risk even as Carney courts C$100tn in global capital to fill the gap. His personal Rolodex from Goldman Sachs and crisis-management track record give him an unusual advantage, but Canada's weak investible pipeline and slow approvals mean investor enthusiasm may not translate into deals without federal-provincial cooperation.
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