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Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced the creation of a new C$25bn (US$18.4bn) sovereign wealth fund to bankroll major projects of national interest and provide returns for Canadians.
The government-funded initiative is the country’s first such fund and is part of Carney’s drive to turn Canada into the “strongest economy of the G7” at a time when US President Donald Trump has slapped debilitating tariffs on its vital exports.
Carney on Monday said the “Canada Strong Fund” will work alongside the private sector to finance 15 infrastructure proposals with the country’s Major Projects Office, which was set up in August.
“Over time, the fund will grow through asset recycling and reinvestment, creating even greater opportunities for future generations,” he said, adding that Canadians will be able to invest in “a retail investment product” under the scheme.
“Many countries that are blessed with natural resources, like Norway, have [sovereign wealth funds]. Canada has not,” Carney said.
Canada’s provinces have authority over their natural resources, rather than the federal government. Alberta set up the province’s sovereign wealth fund, Heritage Savings Trust Fund, in 1976 to manage the wealth tied to its oil reserves, the world’s third largest.
Jon Shell, chair of Toronto-based Social Capital Partners, said the Canada Strong fund “has been compared to the Norway fund or Alberta”.
But, he added, “those are explicitly designed to protect and grow resource wealth. This is the capital behind an, ideally sovereign industrial strategy. Same name, very different objectives.”
Carney’s announcement came on the eve of Canada’s spring economic statement, a mini-budget which will be tabled by finance minister François-Philippe Champagne in parliament on Tuesday.
Canada’s deficit jumped to C$78bn in 2025, up from $42bn the previous year, partly because of record defence spending in response to Trump’s threats. The shortfall is projected to fall to $57bn by 2029-30.
Carney said there would be “good news” on the deficit in the Spring Statement. The country is expected to have benefited from soaring oil prices because of the US and Israeli war against Iran.
Earlier this month, Carney announced a “first-ever” investment summit in Toronto for September as part of the government’s “ambitious plan to catalyse $1tn in total investment in Canada over the next five years”.
But major industries say they are frustrated at the pace of regulatory reform that is central to Carney’s efforts to insulate the nation from Trump’s devastating US trade war.
Asked whether the new fund replicates the Canada Infrastructure Bank, set up in 2017 under the previous government, Carney said the CIB “provides debt” while the new initiative is focused on commercial returns for private citizens.
“It’s the people’s fund, we all benefit,” he said.
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