One year into Mark Carney's tenure as Canada's 24th Prime Minister, Ivey Business School gathered two of the country's sharpest economic minds to take stock of where things stand. In Impact Live: The Carney Agenda — One Year Later, moderator Mahmood Nanji — Power Corporation of Canada Policy Fellow at Ivey — leads a frank assessment of the government's ambitions, its record so far, and the serious headwinds Canada still faces. Joined by Amanda Lang, Chief Financial Correspondent at CTV News and host of Taking Stock, and Giles Gherson, President and CEO of the Toronto Region Board of Trade and former Deputy Minister of Economic Development for Ontario, the conversation cuts straight to the question on many business leaders' minds: is Canada actually headed in the right direction?
The panel digs into the Carney government's core economic agenda, including its ambitious "generational investment strategy" targeting $1 trillion in investment over five years, massive infrastructure and resource development commitment, and a budget that projects significant deficits. They also tackle Canada's precarious trade situation, with CUSMA under review and the U.S. relationship increasingly unpredictable, alongside the government's significant ramp-up in defence spending and its push to diversify trade partnerships across 26 countries.
But the conversation doesn't stop at what the government is doing, it also examines where it may be falling short. From sluggish productivity and 95,000 jobs lost in early 2026, to fiscal risks and talent attraction, Lang and Gherson offer candid takes on the gaps and risks the Carney agenda still needs to address.
