Bryan Brulotte: Canada is entering a new era of nationalism

Mark Carney, Canada's prime minister, speaks during the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. Carney is gathering some of the world's top investors as he seeks to attract more investment into the country while reducing its reliance on the US and diversifying its markets. Photographer: Cole Burston/Bloomberg Photo by Cole Burston /Bloomberg

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For most of the past three generations, Canada has occupied one of the most comfortable strategic positions of any country in the world. We shared a continent with the world’s largest economy and most powerful military, enjoyed privileged access to the American market, possessed extraordinary natural resources and operated within an international system that was broadly stable and predictable. That comfortable world is disappearing.

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The trade confrontation with the United States, the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto and Europe’s remarkable proposal for a new relationship with Canada may appear to be separate developments. They are actually part of the same story. Canada is being forced to think seriously about national power again.

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Former prime minister Stephen Harper captured the magnitude of the change this week at the summit. A longtime admirer of the United States and an architect of closer economic relations with our neighbour, Harper nevertheless argued that Canada must now pursue diminished reliance upon the United States to preserve its sovereignty. That is a significant statement from a Conservative former prime minister whose political instincts have never been anti-American.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney is reaching a similar conclusion from a different political tradition. His government argues that economic integration can no longer be assumed to be benign, because tariffs, supply chains and access to markets can increasingly become instruments of national power. The response has been an aggressive effort to attract investment, accelerate major projects and diversify Canada’s economic relationships.

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Then came Europe, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposing this week that Canada become the European Union’s first “associate member.” The terminology may ultimately change, and the legal architecture remains undefined, but the substance matters more than the label. Europe is proposing deeper cooperation with Canada in advanced manufacturing, defence production, Arctic security, energy, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, quantum technology and economic security.

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These developments represent a remarkable geopolitical moment, but Canadians should resist declaring victory before anything has actually been built. The Investment Summit reportedly produced nearly $500 billion in investment and financing commitments. The federal government also announced a major expansion of immediate expensing for business investment, covering more than 65 per cent of capital assets and reducing the estimated marginal effective tax rate on new investment from roughly 13 per cent to 6.4 per cent.

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Those are significant numbers, but capital commitments are not the same thing as economic capacity. Money announced at a conference still has to become mines, pipelines, LNG terminals, nuclear reactors, ports, railways, factories, data centres and technology companies. Canada has spent too many years announcing projects that take too long to approve, cost too much to build or never get built at all.