Tuesday, September 15, 2026

Former PM Harper speaks at investment summit

 

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   Former PM Harper speaks at investment summit 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yf3MMm5ijM

 

TRANSCRIPT

Thank you very much, distinguished guests from Canada and
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around the world. It is an honor to address you today and to formally conclude this summit. I want to express
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my appreciation on behalf of myself and on behalf of the 20th prime minister of Canada, the right honorable Jean Cretchan. I want to express our
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appreciation to the organizers at CPP, at PSP, and the government of Canada for
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inviting us here and also for giving me the podium today. Um, the prime minister
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said to me yesterday, I really want to thank you for doing this. Said, well, you may want to wait and see what I'm
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going to say first. I I used a line from uh from that famous British TV show. I said, you know, I am a partisan
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appointment. Your decision to give me a microphone is a courageous decision, Prime Minister. In any case, I've been delighted to attend this event and even
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more pleased to see so many familiar faces in this room today. I have met with many of you in your own countries
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these past few years. And I consider you friends. And I thank you each and every one of you for making the journey to spend this time here with us in Canada.
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I consider your attendance an act of friendship and a vote of confidence in our country at a crucial time.
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Now, I know that as board chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, you expect me to speak
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about Canada as an investment destination, and I will. I tell people at Aimco, we are not an economic
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development fund. We are global investors. We seek the best returns from anywhere that we can for our clients.
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And for all those reasons, we have over 40% of our investments in this country.
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So we see lots of opportunity in Canada.
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That's my ANCO hat. However, I am also a former prime minister and as such, I cannot help but address the current situation that Canada faces.
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It is a situation in which given the ongoing violations of our trade agreement by the United States and the
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current impass in negotiations, our country felt compelled to walk away and to see a trade war commence in earnest.
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This had to be a very difficult decision. But I do believe that our government had no choice but to take
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this path. I say that as one who has long been and known to be a great
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admirer of America and one who believes that our close proximity and close relationship to the United States has
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been among this country's most precious assets. However, it is clear it is clear that the current
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US administration views our level of economic integration as incompatible
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with our separate sovereignty. Thus, to maintain that sovereignty, we must pursue diminished reliance upon the
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United States. There will be significant costs to this effort, but those are costs that I hope and believe Canadians are able and prepared to accept.
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I find this all I do find this all very sad just as equally necessary. And I
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believe that in this necessity, our country will also discover and is discovering opportunity.
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economic. It is an opportunity for Canada to rediscover a long-term agenda for economic prosperity, an opportunity
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to realize our true potential as a country, which I believe, to be frank, we have come nowhere close to achieving.
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We in this room all know very well that this is a competitive world fraught with shifting
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politics, fragile supply chains, and other transactional pressures now more so than recent decades. In the face of
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such change, Canada cannot simply blame external factors or make other excuses
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to explain away the difficulties that we face. Leadership is defined by taking accountability for what you can control.
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And today, more than ever, Canada must become more internally competitive, more externally connected, and more truly
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sovereign than it has been. That is the opportunity.
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And obviously, I do want to speak about the Canadian economy.
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Canada possesses, I know you've heard it throughout the conference, Canada possesses a unique economic structure and therefore unique opportunities. We
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have a healthy economic presence across the full range of economic activities,
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primary, secondary, tertiary, advanced technology.
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We must be committed to retaining this incredible economic diversity. And we cannot allow the Trump administration to hollow out our industrial capacities.
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Yet, despite this economic diversity, it remains my view that our resource
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endowment is our special comparative advantage.
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We have abundant resources, renewable and non-renewable, of every type, way beyond our conceivable needs in almost every category.
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Further, these resources are found in an unmatched rule of law business environment with the highest of environmental
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standards and far removed from conflict zones. That is a comparative advantage.
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Now, I'm going to keep my comments brief. So, I want to focus on one thing.
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I know that at AMCO we are rightly known as one of the maple eight but dare I say that we are also the wild rose one
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that is the sole major fund based in the province of Alberta.
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So allow me to speak a bit from that perspective particularly from the perspective from Alberta's position as
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the center of the country's energy industry.
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As I said repeatedly when I was Canada's prime minister, Canada should be an
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energy superpower. Whatever the energy mix of the future, Canada should be a major and a global supplier.
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We are fifth largest in the world in natural gas production, fourth in the production of oil.
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Notes say fourth in oil reserves. Rich Krueger says third. I'll take that. He knows more than I do. We are third in
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hydroele electricity. We are second in uranium. All of it today from Saskatchewan, which with the development of new mines there will make us the
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largest global producer within a few years. Great credit for that is by the way due to Premier Mo and the government of Saskatchewan.
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And by the way, we are not just a uranium miner. We are a builder and refurbisher of nuclear re reactors with
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a worldleading regulatory review agency for the development of SMRs.
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And of course, as a country, we have plenty of investments in bofuels and renewables. and we possess the raw
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materials necessary for further development of those sectors.
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In 2015, Canada was poised to become that energy superpower.
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Today, we are not. Why? Because of deliberate policy choices that followed over the next decade. But there is no
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point bemoning what is past, especially because the opportunity of becoming that global
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energy superpower is fortuitously offering itself to us. Once again,
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I do congratulate our current federal government on the measures it has taken to fasttrack major project approvals,
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especially for projects in the oil sands. These changes are welcome and they are very important. However, more
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does need to be done. The burdens and restrictions that do not exist elsewhere simply must be removed in Canada. And we
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need to provide comprehensive reformed regulatory regulatory reviews and
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permitting processes so that Canada can provide investors with a certainty of a science-based decision on both resource
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and related infrastructure projects within a fixed and reasonable time frame as we had set up a decade ago.
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Ironically, if we do not do these things as a country, the Americans will continue to
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be our sole customers and they will not lack the urgency that we have lacked here in Canada, nor will many others in
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the world. That is why I have to say that I am very encouraged by the detailed comments the prime minister made today
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on doing just some of these things and I welcome them. I believe that Canada's new government is committed to further
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reforms in these areas and committed to their urgency. And I know that our premier, Premier Smith, will continue
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using that what we call Alberta diplomacy to remind our federal government of that
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because becoming that energy superpower is no longer just good business. Not
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only in my view good politics, it is critical to our prosperity and indeed to
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our survival as a country. Critical to raising our horizons beyond narrow domestic considerations to address global opportunities and imperatives.
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And to be blunt, we need not worry about demand from either customers or
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investors. As I have been reminded by many of you in this room and others around the world for a decade, the world
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is developing an unprecedented demand for energy in all its forms. And they want it from Canada, provided we want to get it out of the ground and sell it.
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But this is not just about other markets. We need this energy not only for its export potential. We also need
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it right here in Canada for our own reindustrialization and technological innovation as well as
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of course as a critical signal that Canada is indeed once again a serious investment destination.
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And that brings me back to the purpose of this conference. As I've said, we are honored that you have joined us. I
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congratulate the federal government for holding this conference. I believe the first of its kind in Canada.
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It is such a great innovation that I wish I had thought of it.
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But we all know that it is only a start and to realize its potential, we need ongoing determination and urgency here
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in Canada. I do hope that this conference I do hope that this conference is not a one-off. I think
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this conference needs to become regular and we need your input delegates from everywhere. We need your input to make it bigger and better going forward.
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Now just in conclusion, I know that you all have come here to discuss commercial opportunities,
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but it is my hope that in these conversations, you have deepened the trust and affirmed
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the values upon which commercial partnerships are built. Because friends, this country offers something even more
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precious than our abundant raw resources and our plentiful business opportunities.
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It offers a mindset of respect, of collaboration, and of partnership.
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No matter their industry, Canadians are fundamentally in the business of building trusted partnerships that benefit both sides.
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This orientation for partnership has been in Canada's DNA since our confederation was first established in 1867.
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It is chiseled in our national character like the granite of the Canadian shield and it flows across the boundless expanse of our freshwater.
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It is also the cornerstone of real value creation. And in that vein, I hope that this gathering is merely the beginning
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of building such partnerships. In the meanwhile, I really do want to thank all of you once again, each and every one of
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you for coming here. Godspeed wherever your travels may take you next. Merci.
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God bless Canada. [applause]
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[applause]
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[applause]
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Well, well, thank you, Mr. Prime Minister. Your words are warmly received and they've
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captured the spirit of the moment and the bright future that lies ahead for this country. What a way to close out the first ever Canada Investment Summit.

 

 

 

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