Former PM Stephen Harper to close Prime Minister Mark Carney's Canada Investment Summit
Stephen Harper will deliver the closing address at Prime Minister Mark Carney’s inaugural Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, signalling bipartisan support for the foreign-investment drive.
Toronto will host the first Canada Investment Summit organized by Prime Minister Mark Carney, showcasing more than 160 Canadian projects that need financing ranging from $25 million to hundreds of millions. Former prime minister Stephen Harper, who chairs Alberta Investment Management Corp, has been confirmed to give the closing speech, a move intended to convey bipartisan backing for the investment push. The event will open with Carney’s remarks and feature a keynote from John Graham, president and CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
High-profile attendees such as BlackRock chairman Larry Fink, Barclays chief C.S. Venkatakrishnan and senior officials from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management are slated to join. Panels will cover sectors like critical minerals, defence, energy, artificial intelligence and frontier technologies. Harper’s public appearance is notable, as he has rarely spoken at open-access events since leaving office.
Why it matters
Harper’s participation highlights cross-party backing for Canada’s strategy to lure foreign capital and diversify its economy.
How the sides frame it
LOW AGREEMENTLeft-leaning coverage stresses regulatory shortcomings and protest opposition to the summit, centrist coverage describes the slate of projects and investment prospects, while right-leaning coverage highlights bipartisan endorsement and high-profile investors.
LEFT
The summit faces regulatory hurdles and public opposition, with calls for reforms and protests against its agenda.
CENTER
The summit showcases a wide array of Canadian projects and investment opportunities detailed in a new prospectus.
RIGHT
The summit is portrayed as having bipartisan support, highlighted by former PM Harper’s closing speech and attendance by major investors.
The left emphasises
- regulatory reforms needed for megaprojects
- severe skilled-labour gap
- protests planned by labour, Indigenous and climate groups
The right emphasises
- former PM Stephen Harper to close the summit to convey bipartisan backing
- attendance by high-profile investors such as BlackRock and Barclays
How this story developed
- Aug 30 Ukraine's new defence minister seeks early EU loan by outlining detailed war strategy
- Sep 3 Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys urged the EU to restart talks on using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s military and civilian needs.
- Sep 3 Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Anita Orbán said Hungary will keep its veto on Ukraine’s fast-track EU accession until Kyiv fulfills the June minority-rights pact.
- Sep 4 Hungary blocked the EU Council’s endorsement of Ukraine’s Cluster 2 and Cluster 3 screening results.
- Sep 6 Kyiv announced it will present a detailed war strategy to partners to seek earlier EU financing.
- Sep 10 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Calgary to meet Prime Minister Mark Carney and later speak to a cabinet in Banff.
- Sep 10 Zelensky added stops in Toronto and North Bay before leaving Friday.
- Sep 10 Zelensky and Carney formalised a declaration of a long‑term partnership covering defence and energy cooperation.
- Sep 11 Hungary set a December 2026 deadline for Ukraine to adopt education‑law guarantees for the Hungarian minority.
- Sep 12 The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe formally requested that frozen Russian central‑bank assets be redirected to Ukraine for reparations.
- Sep 12 A declaration establishing a 100‑year partnership was signed by President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Mark Carney.
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