Canada seeks $1tn from investors looking for a haven from Donald Trump

{"text":[[{"start":8.38,"text":"Prime Minister Mark Carney is pitching 200 of the world’s top financial executives gathering in Toronto next week a simple plan: invest 1 per cent more in Canada as a hedge against Donald Trump’s volatility."}],[{"start":27.88,"text":"The investor summit, hosting a C$120tn (US$87tn) pool of global capital, is an attempt to invigorate the former Goldman Sachs executive’s effort to decouple Canada from the US in the face of unrelenting hostility from the US president."}],[{"start":38.92,"text":"“At a time of unprecedented trade disruption, our bold mission to unlock $1tn in new capital will create growth, good jobs and long-term prosperity,” Carney said."}],[{"start":50.16,"text":"Similar to Saudi Arabia’s Future Investment Initiative, the UK’s International Investment Summit or the Choose France Summit, Carney is targeting the world’s richest asset managers to increase their Canada exposure in pipelines, nuclear plants, mining, railways, ports and AI data centres totalling 167 projects."}],[{"start":69,"text":"Deborah Orida, chief executive of the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, which has C$320.6bn worth of assets under management, said international investors are “underweight on Canada relative to other jurisdictions”."}],[{"start":82.96,"text":"“We actually expect to increase our investments in Canada and will cross the C$100bn threshold over the next few years, which is an increase of 30 to 40 per cent from where we are today,” Orida told the FT."}],[{"start":96.96,"text":"Carney is wooing groups from Wall Street to the Dangote Group, run by Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote, and the China Investment Corporation fund that oversees $1.57tn as Canada’s relations with the US reach an all-time low."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":111.88,"text":"The summit is pivotal to Carney’s plan to unite the world’s “middle powers” as an alternative to the old US-centric world order, which he claimed at Davos was undergoing a “rupture, not a transition”."}],[{"start":123.42,"text":"That tension erupted last month after trade talks collapsed with Washington. Carney had declared that “you’re at war when you’re attacked, and we got attacked”, adding Trump signed deals in “pencil”."}],[{"start":132.08,"text":"Now Ottawa is promoting its triple A credit ratings, a mark of outstanding fiscal credibility and near-zero default risk, as a strategy to make Canada the “strongest economy in the G7” as a safe bet against Trump turmoil."}],[{"start":146.2,"text":"“Our future won’t be decided in Washington but right here,” Carney said in a recent ‘forward guidance’ video that warned that the White House was trying to turn Canada into a vassal state."}],[{"start":156.92,"text":"However, business leaders say while Carney looks abroad for foreign support, serious work at home needs to be done to lure investment."}],[{"start":165.24,"text":"David Rawlings, chief executive of JPMorgan Canada, said more capital will flow when Ottawa lowers taxes, shortens permitting timelines, incentivises investment and improves the regulatory landscape."}],[{"start":178.72,"text":"“Investors are looking for certainty, speed of execution and a strong pipeline of investable opportunities. Canada is well positioned to compete for global capital if it continues to make progress in these areas,” he said."}],[{"start":191.48,"text":"Since taking office, Carney has launched an ambitious infrastructure agenda while travelling the world seeking billions of dollars, particularly in the Gulf states, China and India — countries that were once deemed off-limits because of human rights abuses or meddling in Canadian politics."}],[{"start":208.32,"text":"“Governments set the rules of markets, private capital builds the companies that use them. Neither works alone,” said Ben Bergen, chief executive of the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association, whose forum runs the day before the summit. “Around 93 per cent of private equity deals close below C$100mn. That’s where Canada’s value gets built.”"}],[{"start":229.16,"text":"Stuart Waugh, managing partner at Northleaf Capital Partners, which manages more than C$32bn across 700 mid-market investments globally, said Ottawa’s infrastructure agenda has “created significant opportunity” in the mid market."}],[{"start":241.8,"text":"“We are competing at the margin for incremental allocation,” he said. “We don’t need people to make radical changes to their asset portfolio for it to have a meaningful impact.”"}],[{"start":251.64,"text":"Vass Bednar, managing director of the Canadian Shield Institute, a think-tank focused on economic and digital sovereignty, said two-thirds of last year’s foreign investment related to acquisitions of local companies."}],[{"start":263.84,"text":"“Without guardrails, more foreign ownership of our critical infrastructure can carry practical implications for pricing power, supply chains and overall prosperity,” she said."}],[{"start":274.32,"text":"Canada’s business leaders also warn the country is losing its competitive edge to the US, as the Trump administration slashes taxes, rolls back regulations and aggressively pushes digital industrial policies to boost domestic growth."}],[{"start":287.88,"text":"Crucial industries such as forestry, oil and gas, and the automotive sector remain frustrated at the pace of Carney’s domestic reforms, claiming red tape is more stifling than Trump’s tariffs."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":299.16,"text":"Carolyn Rogers, the Bank of Canada’s senior deputy governor, two years ago described the country’s productivity crisis as “an emergency”."}],[{"start":306.6,"text":"The official statistics agency in March reported: “The relative decline in productivity growth is the principal reason why Canada is falling behind, regardless of how economic performance is measured.”"}],[{"start":317.08,"text":"Carney needs big investors to back his pledge to turn Canada into an “energy superpower”, considering its vast oil and natural gas resources, as it pivots to supplying Asian and European markets."}],[{"start":329.12,"text":"But according to Canada’s fossil fuel industry, Ottawa needs to create a “competitive and efficient tax system, streamlined and predictable regulatory processes”."}],[{"start":337.48,"text":"Similarly, Carney’s promise to dismantle internal trade barriers, which the IMF estimated in January were the equivalent of a 9 per cent tariff, is another systemic challenge and consistent business gripe."}],[{"start":349.96,"text":"“Our story of being a nice, stable, responsible country, that’s not enough,” said Dan Debow, a leading voice of Build Canada, a non-partisan advocacy group seeking more modern growth strategies."}],[{"start":361.72,"text":"Debow, a serial technology entrepreneur and investor, said success ultimately lies with the private sector."}],[{"start":367.72,"text":"“The government definitely needs to turn the heat up on creating a competitive market but Canadian companies need to embrace ‘creative destruction’. That’s the world we are now in, it is more dynamic,” he said."}],[{"start":384.28,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1789218144_7364.mp3"}