Terence Corcoran: Industrial strategy — a global push to crush capitalism

Skip to Content News Archives Economy Energy Oil & Gas Renewables Electric Vehicles Mining Commodities Agriculture Real Estate Mortgages Mortgage Rates Finance Banking Insurance Fintech Cryptocurrency Work Wealth Smart Money Wealth Management Investor Personal Finance Family Finance Retirement Taxes High Net Worth FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials More Innovation Information Technology FP500 Podcasts Small Business Lives Told Tails Told Shopping Financial Post Store Obituaries Place a Notice Advertising Advertising With Us Advertising Solutions Postmedia Ad Manager Sponsorship Requests Classifieds Place a Classifieds ad Working Profile Settings My Subscriptions Saved Articles My Offers Newsletters Customer Service FAQ News Economy Energy Mining Real Estate Finance Work Wealth Investor FP Comment Executive Women Puzzmo Newsletters Financial Times Business Essentials This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.HomeFP CommentTerence Corcoran: Industrial strategy — a global push to crush capitalismAt September's Canada Investment Summit, corporate elites will learn how the country is ditching free market principles You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow make a housing announcement in Toronto on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026. Carney’s Liberal government has outlined multiple government-led strategies to transform the Canadian economy. Photo by Peter Power /Postmedia NewsThe corporate excitement level is rising to fever pitch in Toronto as the media braces for next month’s Canada Investment Summit, where an all-star cast of global corporate and financial elites will gather around Prime Minister Mark Carney to learn how Canada is ditching free market principles and embracing state-run industrial strategies.THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLYSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman, and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESSubscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Exclusive articles from Barbara Shecter, Joe O'Connor, Gabriel Friedman and others.Daily content from Financial Times, the world's leading global business publication.Unlimited online access to read articles from Financial Post, National Post and 15 news sites across Canada with one account.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword.REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLESCreate an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountOrganized by Carney and his team — including two of Ottawa’s government pension operations — the objective of the summit is to establish Canada as a new economic force under new management that aims to unlock up to $1-trillion in national and foreign investment. Over the last year, Carney’s Liberal government has outlined multiple government-led strategies to transform the Canadian economy — defence, housing, infrastructure, telecommunications, trade, AI technology, major projects, automotive, climate industries, critical minerals.Scheduled for Sept. 14 and 15 in Toronto, summit attendees — leaked to the media — include names such as Larry Fink of BlackRock Inc., “top” executives from Blackstone Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., along with representatives of Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund and other global investment officials, Canadian bankers and investment executives.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againA naive observer might expect at least one or two of the attendees to quietly lift a finger and attempt to ask an obvious question: “Ah, Mr. Prime Minister, er, are you not concerned that engaging in this process represents abandonment of the free market and replaces it with too much government intervention? Why should we invest in projects and ideas that are dependent on erratic and unpredictable government officials?”Investment executives who have made their billions cashing in on free market economies over the last several decades will not ask such a question of someone like Mark Carney. Summit attendees — including Fink, one of Carney’s climate policy buddies — will have read the prime minister’s Canadian best-selling book — Value(s): Building a Better World for All — and will be familiar with Carney’s long-time mission to replace free markets with state markets.Carney spelled it out at length in Value(s):– “An essential point is that, just as any revolution eats its children, unchecked market fundamentalism devours the social capital essential for the long-term dynamism of capitalism itself.”– “Maximize government investment both to support short-term economic activity and to build the physical, digital and natural capital we need.”– “We need to remember that economies built solely on formal institutions and markets, directed by invisible hands without purpose, are like mansions built on sand.”Carney wrote Value(s) back in 2020 and declared the old economic order — the free-market Washington Consensus — as doomed four years before Donald Trump returned as U.S. president. In other words, Carney was out to replace market fundamentals with government at the heart of economic decision-making well before Trump came to symbolize failing hegemonic control.One of Carney’s strategic moves, creation of a Canada Strong Fund to be supplied with $25-billion in borrowed cash backed by Ottawa, is modelled after a similar fund Carney helped create in the United Kingdom when he was governor of the Bank of England. A new report from the Montreal Economics Institute this week found the U.K. model failed to function as planned. “This is a fund that’s used borrowed money to make investment decisions based on political priorities,” said the report’s author. “This is different from how private investors spend money, which is guided by clear signals of profit and loss.”This advertisement has not loaded yet.This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.It is long past time for Canadian business executives and economic policy influencers to raise questions about a major effort to impose national industrial strategies on an economy that has, for the most part, thrived on a market consensus.Strategic state industrialism is of course more than a local Canadian movement. It is a global phenomenon promoted by familiar activists such as the World Economic Forum, where Carney delivered his famous claim that “a rupture in the world order” had occurred with the election of Trump. Today it’s Trump, five years ago it was COVID.As the Canada Investment Summit opens next month, the soundness of the economic and political ideas behind Carney’s imposition of strategic industrialism deserve more attention than they are getting now from the economic and business communities. In fact, many seem ready to jump aboard the anti-market crusade and cash in on the coming investment cash and subsidies.In other commentary today, Jack Mintz outlines the economic perils associated with state-run industrial strategies and subsidies: “The current vogue for industrial policy is causing havoc to the world trading system.” Researchers at the International Monetary Fund recently concluded that “while targeting strategic sectors, recent subsidies and import tariffs lower global welfare by creating distortions and negative cross-border externalities.”Another risk in Canada is the growing involvement of government pension plans. The Canada Pension Plan and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board are helping set up the investment summit. Defence Minister David McGuinty recently held closed door meetings with “military industry leaders” and later with nine pension funds to discuss “opportunities to strengthen collaboration between government and Canada’s pension funds to support of Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy.”It looks like pension plans are about to be enrolled in providing funding to help subsidize military spending and Carney’s other industrial strategies rather than maximizing market returns to cover the pensions of Canadians.Notice for the Postmedia NetworkThis website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.