Source: https://cheknews.ca/
Speaking at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a sobering assessment of the global moment while making a clear case that immigrant entrepreneurs will be central to Canada’s economic and trade strategy in an increasingly fractured world order.
In a special address to global leaders, Carney argued that the assumptions underpinning the post-war international system are no longer holding.
“For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order,” he said. “We joined its institutions, we praised its principles, we benefited from its predictability… this bargain no longer works.”
Carney described the current era as “the end of a nice story and the beginning of a brutal reality,” one defined by intensifying geopolitical rivalry, weakened multilateral institutions, and the routine weaponization of economic integration. In such a landscape, he said, middle powers like Canada must abandon nostalgia and act with strategic clarity.
“We aim to be both principled and pragmatic,” Carney stated, adding that Canada will “actively take on the world as it is, not wait around for the world we wish to be.”
At the core of Carney’s recalibration is a renewed emphasis on Canada’s immigrant entrepreneurial ecosystem. While highlighting the country’s pluralistic society, deep capital markets, and highly skilled workforce, Carney stressed that Canada’s diverse, globally connected entrepreneurs offer a strategic advantage few nations can match.
“Canada is a pluralistic society that works. Our public square is loud, diverse, and free,” he said. “We have capital, talent, and values to which many others aspire.”
In a fragmented global economy, Carney suggested, these attributes translate into influence when paired with entrepreneurs who understand multiple markets, cultures, and regulatory systems, a profile that defines many immigrant-led businesses in Canada.
For diaspora entrepreneurs, the message resonated as more than rhetoric. Many already operate across borders, linking Canada to supply chains, consumers, and investment flows in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. From fintech and artificial intelligence to clean energy, agri-processing, and advanced manufacturing, immigrant-led firms are uniquely positioned to help Canada diversify trade, reduce over-reliance on any single market, and build resilient economic partnerships.
In Carney’s framing, these global connections are not incidental; they are strategic assets. As geopolitical competition intensifies, countries that can mobilize trusted business networks and culturally fluent entrepreneurs gain resilience. Immigrant entrepreneurs increasingly function as informal diplomats, market scouts, and capital mobilizers in a world where trust and access are scarce commodities.
Carney reinforced this vision by outlining Canada’s concrete policy direction: expanding trade and investment ties with the European Union, India, ASEAN countries, and Mercosur; deepening partnerships around artificial intelligence and critical minerals; and committing trillions of dollars to domestic investment in energy, AI, and infrastructure.
He described the approach as “values-based realism”, firm on sovereignty, sustainability, and human rights, yet pragmatic in pursuing opportunity wherever shared interests align.
Policy analysts say the speech signals a broader shift in how Canada understands power in the 21st century. Rather than relying solely on traditional diplomacy or natural resources, Carney is positioning Canada’s immigrant entrepreneurial base as a core instrument of national strategy capable of bridging markets, unlocking capital, and exporting Canadian standards and solutions.
As Carney concluded, “The old order is not coming back. Nostalgia is not a strategy. But from the fracture, we can build something better, stronger, and more just.”
For immigrant entrepreneurs, the implication is unmistakable: they are no longer operating at the margins of Canada’s global ambitions. They are increasingly central to their turning lived global experience into economic resilience, strategic autonomy, and a renewed Canadian role in shaping the emerging world order.
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