Five takeaways from Canada's push to woo the world's richest investors — SkimNews
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- Mark Carney convened an investment summit in Toronto with 100+ investors representing over C$120tn in assets, pitching Canada as a "safe harbour" and pledging C$1tn ($720bn) in investments over five years to reduce reliance on the US.
- Carney's government offered more than 160 projects — from data centres and pipelines to port expansions — alongside a "mega deduction" tax incentive and a one-year review timeline for major projects.
- Canada announced it will allow private investment in four major airports (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary), retaining federal land ownership but opening operations to private capital; unions immediately denounced it as a privatization "sell-off."
- The summit generated nearly C$500bn in new investment pledges across critical infrastructure, digital technology, energy and defence, with AI infrastructure drawing particular interest thanks to Canada's cold climate and clean-energy grid.
- Carney held bilateral meetings with BlackRock's Larry Fink and Blackstone's Jon Gray, then told the American executives in the room: "Canada will continue to be the US's most important partner in many key areas."
- Carney heads to Europe next to address the EU parliament and begin discussions on a "unique security and economic alliance" with the bloc, as new US tariffs on Canadian goods took effect the same day.
- Protesters outside the gala — including Dogwood's Kai Nagata and the Canadian Labour Congress's Lily Chang — accused the government of a "great Canadian sell-off," with Nagata noting "half the buyers that he has invited here to Toronto are American."
Why it matters: Carney is running a dual-track strategy — courting US-based capital giants like BlackRock and Blackstone while pivoting to Europe and Asia to reduce trade dependence on Washington. Labor groups argue the privatization push puts workers and public infrastructure on the line, and the fact that half the invited investors are American underscores how entangled that pivot really is.
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