Carney gambles on the world's biggest investors betting on Canada

It's been a little over 18 months since Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country's relationship with the United States, based on over a century of tight economic and military cooperation, was "over".

Trade talks collapsing, tit-for-tat tariffs, and Donald Trump's talk of making Canada a "51st state" have all fuelled this bitter feud between the two North American neighbours.

Now, as Canada's top pitch man, Carney is looking to leverage personal relationships from his time spent in the top tiers of global finance to woo some of the world's wealthiest asset managers and business leaders to bet on his country.

For two days, Toronto will host more than 100 global investors overseeing more than C$100tn ($72tn; £53) in assets, in the hope that new economic relationships will help Canada navigate an increasingly unstable geopolitical climate.

"Canada has what the world wants," said Carney ahead of this "first of its kind" investment summit.

On Monday and Tuesday, a luxury hotel will host guests from major sovereign wealth funds from around the world - including the United Arab Emirates and Norway - and chief executives from major finance companies, like BlackRock's Larry Fink and Blackstone president Jon Gray.

There, Carney hopes to pitch them on Canada's energy and resource sectors, as well as the country’s political stability, in the hopes of getting them to invest in AI, defence, transportation, and infrastructure projects across the country.

It is all part of a strategy to build a "more independent, more resilient economy" in Canada in the wake of the tariff war with the US, which has escalated in recent weeks.