Commentary on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “Canada Strong” vision, outlined at the 2026 Canada Investment Summit in Toronto.

For generations, Canadians have lived beside the most powerful economy in the world and benefited enormously from that relationship. But there comes a moment when every country must ask a fundamental question: Can we stand on our own two feet?

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s address to the Canada Investment Summit offered his government’s answer. Canada must become stronger, more independent and less vulnerable to decisions made beyond our borders. That is bigger than Mark Carney. It should be bigger than Liberal, Conservative or NDP politics. It is about Canada.

The old economic assumptions can no longer simply be taken for granted. Carney told investors that economic integration is increasingly being used as leverage, while tariffs, supply chains and financial systems can become instruments of pressure. His response was straightforward: Canada must build strength at home while expanding its partnerships around the world; that deserves serious attention.

For too long, Canada has possessed extraordinary resources while often depending on somebody else to process them, buy them or provide the infrastructure required to move them. Oil, natural gas, uranium, critical minerals, hydroelectricity, agriculture, technology and human talent give this country advantages many nations would envy. But resources in the ground do not create national strength by themselves. Canada must build.

Carney has set a goal of catalyzing $1 trillion in investment over five years in energy, transportation, technology, data, defence and other sectors. His government is also pursuing new markets abroad while maintaining the enormous relationship Canada has with the United States. At the summit, Carney said Canada and the U.S. will always be neighbours and important partners, but emphasized that successful partnerships require respect for each country’s sovereignty; that is the right principle for Canada to insist upon.

Canada does not need to become anti-American to become more Canadian. The United States will remain our neighbour, ally, customer and trading partner. But Canada should never find itself in a position where one government, one president or one foreign market can determine our economic future.

The first Canada Investment Summit brought investors from nearly 30 countries representing more than $100 trillion in assets to Toronto, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. That sends an important message: Canada has options.

Canada Strong will mean very little if Canadians cannot see the benefits. Major projects must produce Canadian jobs. Indigenous communities must be genuine partners. Small businesses and entrepreneurs, including those in Black, Caribbean and other communities historically excluded from major economic opportunities it must have pathways into procurement, financing, construction, technology and the industries being created.

And governments must actually deliver when Carney declared that Canada understands the world has changed and that “nostalgia is not a strategy.”

On that point, Canada should listen.

We cannot spend the next decade wishing the old world back into existence.

Canada has the resources. We have the people. We have access to markets around the world. What we have sometimes lacked is the confidence to act at the scale of our potential.

A strong Canada does not hide from the storm. It builds the ship, chooses its destination and sails with confidence.

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