CANADA STRONG FUND, A Boondoggle to Transfer Risk from Billionaires to Workers
By Gary Porter
Ottawa is launching Canada’s first so-called national sovereign wealth fund—the Canada Strong Fund. According to Mark Carney, it is about making sure that the returns, if any, from Build Canada Strong are shared widely. The mission, according to the Department of Finance, is to give Canadians a perceived direct stake in (but no control over) the Build Canada agenda. Clearly, it is a government of Canada fund – in other words, an instrument of the capitalist state. The fund will invest in strategic projects and companies, alongside other investors—with a clear objective to achieve commercial returns to build the wealth of Canadian billionaires. This is how the Canada Strong Fund will work:
Initially, the government will borrow the initial $25 billion over 3 years, on a cash basis, to seed the Canada Strong Fund. This will be owed to the banks and to institutional investors. They will gain interest annually from our taxes.
This is completely different from other major sovereign funds which are based on revenue derived by government usually from royalties taken from natural resource extraction. This is how the sovereign funds of the Arab monarchies, and from Norway and Alberta, were created. Those funds came from funds taken by the state from billionaires, with no interest obligations -- not borrowed from the capitalist class, with decades of interest owed back to them.
The Fund will “change” over time, both from the returns that it generates, and the losses it absorbs, and via other assets that the government may allocate to it. One source of future funds will be the proceeds of the sale of publically owned assets, such as airports. Such sales are typically well below market value, often going to US billionaires, and always result in higher prices and inferior service. This is where the profit arises. From infrastructure to advanced manufacturing, to energy, and to mining, the Fund will be mandated to deliver market-rate returns “for Canadians” across the economy.
Leading Canadian companies will be induced to undertake large risky projects in energy, transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, and in the future economy, sharing the risk with taxpayers’ money.
Global investors are increasingly looking to Canada as a destination for major new investments, owing to the increasingly risky, unpredictable, and poorly managed economy in the USA. The federal government is working to ensure these new projects move forward.
The Major Projects Office is working closely with project proponents to ensure these projects are not hindered by pesky and profit-reducing environmental, safety and labour regulations. The Carney government is assessing projects for potential designation under the Building Canada Act. Such designation shortens the review process and increases penalties should Indigenous people, environmentalists and people who fear the poisonous by-products of many such projects, and try to block them with protests.
The Carney government appears likely to approve more pipelines, though the final decision on a major oil pipeline is still forthcoming. Recent policy moves and direct statements from the PM indicate a strong push to fast-track major resource projects.
The government is planning “comprehensive” regulatory changes to make pipeline approvals easier and faster. This includes adopting a “one project, one review” system with a two-year federal decision deadline. Among other things, the aim of this step is to block Quebec or any other province from imposing a second review. This move will be tested in court.
In a recent interview, Carney stated a new oil pipeline is “more likely than not,” citing the need to diversify exports away from the US to Asian markets.
On April 25, 2026, Ottawa officially approved a $4 billion expansion of a natural gas pipeline to the west coast.
Much of the focus is on finalizing a pending deal with Alberta. Premier Danielle Smith uses the cudgel of separatism to help Carney sell such deals to working people. A Memorandum of Agreement would exempt Alberta from an emissions cap, along with clean electricity rules, in exchange for the province raising its industrial carbon price. The goal is a new oil pipeline to British Columbia’s coast, with Premier Smith hoping for a final deal “in the next number of days”.
The deal requires the pipeline to be privately financed, in the face of steep costs (potentially billions) and low oil prices that make private investment uncertain.
If the MOU is finalized soon, a formal project proposal is expected by July 2026, but construction would not begin until at least 2029.
Where the federal government is active, the Canada Strong Fund will focus on complementing these efforts—investing alongside private capital in a growing stream of projects and companies, while reducing risk for private investors.
A new crown corporation will be created with “Independence and professional management” to promote a sovereign wealth fund that can make long-term, economically sound investment decisions. The capitalist government states that this approach to structure is widely regarded as global best practice “because it strengthens transparency, credibility, and long-term performance through consistent, expert management.”
It does no such thing. The Board will be composed of recent CEOs, bankers, lawyers, accountants and investment broker executives, entirely representative of the financial wing of the capitalist class and representing their interests solely.
The government intends to offer Canadians “the opportunity” to participate directly in the Fund through a new retail investment product.
This means that any Canadian who wishes to do so, can invest some of their savings into the Canada Strong Fund.
The government intends to consult on the specific design of this product, but Canadians can expect to see the following features:
Broadly accessible to Canadians from coast to coast to coast;
Easy and simple to purchase, hold, and transact;
As the Canada Strong Fund succeeds or fails, investors will be able to share in the upside, or downside while their initial invested capital will be protected.
As former Chair of the Investment Committee of the $200 billion Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, I can tell you that I would not invest in such a security. It is designed to subsidize the rich and buffer their losses.
If Carney wants to build out Canadian resources and energy, why not impose a hefty billionaires’ tax, impose Norway-level royalties and use the proceeds to assemble publicly owned assets managed by workers and communities, including a new carbon and methane-free energy grid.
In summary, the Canada Strong Fund is not a national “wealth” fund. It is but the latest tool of the capitalist state designed to ameliorate a crisis of capitalism using borrowed public money, to reduce risk for the capitalist class.