Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a press conference after a cabinet meeting at the National Press Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, on July 30, 2025. Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a range of programs and more than $6.5 billion in funding, including a $5 billion strategic response fund, to strengthen Canadian industries and offset the impact of U.S. tariffs and trade tensions.
Among the funding and policies announced by Carney on Sept. 5 is reskilling and training support for up to 50,000 workers, a $5 billion fund to help businesses diversify, and a new “Buy Canadian” policy to prioritize domestic suppliers.
The new measures also provide expanded loans and financing for businesses and workers, expanded access to employment insurance benefits, and more than $370 million in incentives and subsidies for canola farmers facing a 75.8 percent tariff from China.
Carney also announced a $1 billion, three-year tariff response fund that he says will give flexible, non-repayable assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises and producers who’ve been hit hardest by trade disruptions.
‘Strongest Economy in the G7’
Carney described the Sept. 5 measures as “the most comprehensive suite of trade resilience measures in Canadian history,” adding that Canada’s “ambition is to build the strongest economy in the G7.”
“We know we need to act now, invest now, precisely when it’s hard,” he said during the Sept. 5 announcement in Toronto.
Carney said the new measures will put Canada on a more solid economic footing and shift away from dependence on the United States to a more diversified and strengthened position.
He said the $5 billion strategic response fund will be open to businesses in all sectors and industries and help businesses shift into new product lines and markets, retrain and keep workers in Canada, improve productivity, innovate new products, and strengthen their competitiveness globally.
Carney also promised to pause Canada’s electric vehicle (EV) sales mandate, waiving 2026 targets and launching a 60-day review as part of broader efforts to relieve pressure on the auto industry, which is facing significant U.S. tariff shocks.
Carney also touched on Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy, which commits $8.1 billion over five years and $73 billion over 20 years to boost defence readiness, improve supply chains, and bolster domestic use of steel, aluminum and cyber technologies. It proposes the creation of a centralized defence procurement agency as well as fast-tracked implementation of new technology.
“For years, we’ve been buying, as a government significantly from foreign suppliers for short term gain,” Carney said. “Now we need to use government procurement, using Canadian taxpayer dollars, to spur Canadian businesses for longer term prosperity, to support Canadian industries.”
In his remarks, Carney also spoke in support of Build Canada Homes, a program aimed at doubling the pace of housing construction within a decade. He also mentioned the Sept. 1 opening of the Major Projects Office, which is set to consider projects of national importance for fast-tracked, two-year approval as part of the Liberal government’s One Canadian Economy Act.
At a Sept. 5 press conference following Carney’s announcement, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the government’s progress on promises Carney made during the spring election campaign.
“This really has been, as I said yesterday, the Seinfeld summer from Mark Carney: a big show about nothing,” Poilievre said at a Sept. 5 press conference following Carney’s announcement. “Nothing is getting done under Mark Carney, everything is getting worse.”
Poilievre said Carney has fallen short on his promises related to housing, the economy, major projects, and crime. He said no major projects have been constructed under Carney’s One Canadian Economy Act, adding that a recently released “dream list” of potential future projects means little if they haven’t made forward progress.
Poilievre noted that he has long advocated for Carney to drop the electric vehicle (EV) mandate requiring 60 percent of new light-duty vehicles sold by 2030 to be EVs. He said Carney’s move on EVs amounts to “admitting the Conservatives were right,” but said the government’s messaging on delaying the mandate fails to establish a clear policy on EVs.