Canada at a Crossroads Between ‘Industrial Policy’ and Free Markets, Think Tank President Says

As the federal government gathers investors from around the world for a major summit in Toronto, the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (FCPP) is holding a conference at the same time proposing a free market vision for the future that it says would more effectively attract private capital instead of heading down a path of government-controlled economics.

The think tank’s conference, “Reclaiming the North: Strategic Utility Corridors for Sovereignty and Economic Development in Canada’s Arctic,” taking place Sept. 14 and 15 in Winnipeg, promotes development of major infrastructure and trade corridors in Canada’s north, according to FCPP President David Leis.

“This is about government really getting out of the way and facilitating both First Nations and investors being able to get the job done, to be able to unlock prosperity and opportunity that could really change the nation,” Leis told The Epoch Times.

Leis said the conference will look into the possibility of building a major transportation and trade corridor from Western Canada to Port Nelson on Manitoba’s Hudson Bay.

He said this could give Canadian goods such as energy and potash a shorter and cheaper route to Europe than traveling via West Coast ports or, as in some cases, via the Panama Canal.

Carney said the investors in attendance oversee approximately $120 trillion in assets and the summit aims to promote investment in various Canadian sectors including critical minerals, energy, infrastructure, and technology.

“Our greatest strength is something that can’t be found on any balance sheet: trust,” Carney said Sept. 13 ahead of the summit.

“We have what the world wants: the energy, the resources, the talent, the technology and the capital.”

The prime minister added that he’s already received substantial interest from investors.

“In the last week alone, a number of them—and I’m not going to name them, because I suspect there are a few more announcements coming—a number of them have announced plans already to put hundreds of billions of dollars of additional capital to work here in Canada,” he said.

Leis said the Toronto conference appears to be a further turn toward the government becoming more and more involved in the market.

“A lot of people call it ‘industrial policy,’ where government often creates incentives for private sector investment versus just enabling an environment with good regulations, sensible tax policies that enable the private sector to move things forward,” Leis said.

Leis referred to the two simultaneous conferences as “a tale of two conferences,” representing fundamentally different paths forward for Canadian economic policy.

He said FCPP, which he emphasizes is non-partisan, will advance the view that a “free market” path forward will be best for Canada’s future.

“Ultimately, what serves Canada the best, and really ultimately builds it, is a free market that enables the private sector to invest money, to take those risks, but to go through sensible regulatory regimes so that that can happen easily,” Leis said.

“What we’re talking now is the emergence of potentially a new model, which is really about kind of an industrial policy on steroids, which is a very controversial direction, a change in direction that would be historic in this country, because I can’t think of any example where it’s worked,” he added of his view of the direction being taken by the federal government.

Leis said he hopes his think tank’s conference will spur a renewed focus on removing obstacles that stand in the way of private-sector investment and that have contributed to a surge of capital outflow from Canada in recent years.

“Existing policies that make it difficult to do business need to be changed. There’s no question. And that’s the story of the last decade,” he said. “Our economy has stagnated for a reason. We’ve done this to ourselves because we’ve had bad government policies.”

Leis said about 125 people are expected to attend, including policy experts, investors, and First Nations leaders, with the program listing speakers including former Chief of Staff at NATO retired Lt.-Gen. Michel Maisonneuve, former Norway House Cree Nation chief Ron Evans, and former intelligence operator and national security specialist Scott McGregor.