{"id":282864,"date":"2025-11-14T16:02:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T16:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/282864\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T16:02:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T16:02:12","slug":"carneys-nation-building-programme-misses-mark-to-be-truly-transformative-for-canada-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/282864\/","title":{"rendered":"Carney\u2019s \u2018nation-building\u2019 programme misses mark to be truly transformative for Canada | Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canada\u2019s prime minister, Mark Carney, likes to say that when he was young, \u201cwe used to build big things in this country, and we used to build them quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

That idea \u2013 of sprawling projects that transform nations, has influenced both his narrative as an economist turned politician and his government\u2019s multibillion-dollar investment spree. \u201cIt\u2019s time to get back at it, and get on with it,\u201d he said in September.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Carney touted a slate of new \u201cnation-building\u201d projects, totalling more than $C56bn (US$40bn) in new investment, that his government will help fast-track in order \u201cto boost Canada\u2019s competitiveness\u201d. But those plans, which include mines and natural gas export, heavily favour investment in a resource-based economy that falls short on projects that experts say could change the day-to-day lives of Canadians \u2013 and reimagine the country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Carney told reporters the projects were \u201ctransformational\u201d and will help the country realize \u201cfull potential as an energy superpower\u201d while also finding new markets outside the United States.<\/p>\n

Carney made the announcement in Terrace, British Columbia, at the site of a proposed C$6bn, 280-mile power line.<\/p>\n

The line is meant to secure tens of billions of dollars in private-sector investments, including a string of critical-mineral mines, for the sparsely developed north-west corner of the province. The federal government\u2019s hope is that it fends off economic threats from Donald Trump<\/a> whose trade war with one of his closest allies has threatened to plunge the Canadian economy into a recession.<\/p>\n

The first batch of five projects were announced in September<\/a> and included critical mineral mines and natural gas projects.<\/p>\n

In addition to the power line, Carney also flagged a BC LNG project, a nickel project in Ontario, a mine in New Brunswick, a graphite battery project in Quebec and a hydroelectric project in Iqaluit. He also announced a \u201cconservation corridor\u201d between north-west BC and the Yukon territory roughly the size of Greece.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe signal the government is sending is that Canada is a resource economy and that we will continue to invest in being a resource economy. It really signals the government\u2019s view that Canada\u2019s strength in the world is its ability to sell those resources,\u201d said Shoshanna Saxe, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think that\u2019s wrong. But it feels as though there\u2019s a chance for the government to invest in a new and forward-looking version of Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest list of projects again omits any new oil pipelines, which have proven to be deeply divisive and politically fractious in recent years.<\/p>\n

Also absent is a proposed tunnel under the country\u2019s busiest highway which had been pitched by the Ontario premier, Doug Ford, but was dismissed by critics as fantasy. Ford\u2019s provincial government is spending C$9m to study how the tunnel might one day be built.<\/p>\n

Pipeline expansion and the tunnel project could have scored Carney political points in Alberta and Ontario, but they would probably take far longer than the 2030 deadline the federal government has put in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to do things fast, you need to go after projects that are already under way and have reasonably fast returns. Most heavy infrastructure can\u2019t be built really quickly, but you can do a lot of light infrastructure projects with speed,\u201d said Saxe. \u201cAnd these make sense as an economic play \u2013 especially given the uncertainty in future relationships with the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Saxe said there could be a broader discussion of \u201cwhat is possible\u201d when it comes to investments from the federal government.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could imagine a government that sees the narrative of a sovereignty threat and the need to be fully independent,\u201d she said. And they could say: \u201cWe won\u2019t be dependent on the old way of doing things and so we\u2019re going to rapidly invest in new ways of doing things that improve people\u2019s day-to-day lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

She pointed to a \u201chuge infrastructure deficit\u201d when it comes to water systems, bridges, public transit and housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are light things we can do that we could do at scale on a national level. And it would require the movement and engagement that we imagine occurred in the postwar period and after the Depression,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd at the moment, the federal government is not asking us to engage in changing the basic way Canada works. They\u2019re saying we\u2019re going to continue to invest in the old strengths of Canada. But you\u2019re still left wondering what is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada\u2019s prime minister, Mark Carney, likes to say that when he was young, \u201cwe used to build big…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282865,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-282864","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282865"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}