Canada unveils 'Canada Strong Fund'

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government used Canada’s April 28 spring economic update to launch the Canada Strong Fund, a new sovereign wealth fund for strategic projects. (canada.ca 1) (canada.ca 2) The federal government said the fund will be Canada’s first national sovereign wealth fund and will invest in “key, strategic Canadian projects and companies.” Ottawa said Canadians will also be able to hold a stake in those projects. (canada.ca) (cbc.ca) Carney said on April 27 that the Canada Strong Fund will begin with an initial endowment of C$25 billion and operate with private-sector and international partners. CBC reported the government plans to spend the next few months consulting on the fund’s design. (cbc.ca) (newswire.ca) The spring update ties the fund to a broader industrial policy push aimed at energy, critical minerals, agriculture, infrastructure, defence and advanced manufacturing. It also pairs the fund with a new Major Projects Office and a defence industrial strategy. (canada.ca) (budget.canada.ca) Ottawa also put money behind the labor side of that plan. The update launches “Team Canada Strong” to recruit, train and hire 80,000 to 100,000 new skilled-trades workers by 2030-31, backed by C$6 billion over five years. (canada.ca) (cbc.ca) The fiscal backdrop gave Carney room to do it. CBC reported the 2025-26 deficit came in at C$66.9 billion, below the C$78.3 billion projected in November, while the update adds C$37.5 billion in new spending. (cbc.ca) (politico.com) Government documents say Canada’s economy grew 1.7 percent in 2025, and the International Monetary Fund expects Canada to post the second-fastest growth in the Group of Seven in 2026 and 2027. The update says about 85 percent of Canadian goods exports were shielded from recent U.S. measures by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. (budget.canada.ca) Carney has framed that mix of spending and state investment as a response to tariff pressure, supply-chain shocks and a more hostile global trading environment. The fund’s next steps now depend on consultations over its structure, governance and how Canadians would be allowed to invest. (politico.com) (cbc.ca)