To save Canada, Mark Carney is courting foreign money. He’s risking an ‘investment invasion’ - Toronto Star

One sector of our economy looks very tempting to investors.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s big push for foreign investment comes at a time that sectors like health care are looking very tempting to investors. That comes with significant risk to Canada’s care economy, writes Armine Yalnizyan. 

Armine Yalnizyan is an economist and the Atkinson Fellow on the Future of Workers. Find her other columns for the Toronto Star here or follow her at armineyalnizyan@bluesky.com

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “first-ever” Canada Investment Summit kicks off this week, amid the glamour of the Toronto International Film Festival. Canada is rolling out the red carpet for the world’s biggest investors. It’s great theatre, as high-voltage personalities meet high-stakes gambles.

It takes moxy to hold an investor showcase amidst a trade war with the U.S. Canada needs to strut its stuff, proving why it’s shrewd to invest here now, even as our access to the world’s biggest consumer market shrinks.

The urgency of the moment risks blurring the line between attracting capital and surrendering control. Not all investment is good investment. And nowhere are the risks greater than in the care economy — health care, education and social services.

A tsunami of private equity from the U.S. is about to flood global markets, and Canada has no safeguards to prevent the collision of essential services, public dollars and private interests from worsening existing problems.    

The prime minister hinted Sunday in Toronto that deals are about to be announced as his inaugural Investment Summit gets underway.