Canada Announces C$25 Billion "Canada Strong Fund" as First Federal Sovereign Wealth Vehicle

Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday announced the Canada Strong Fund, a new federal investment vehicle the government describes as Canada’s first national sovereign wealth fund, to be seeded with C$25 billion over three years.

According to a Prime Minister’s Office news release, Carney unveiled the fund April 27 in Ottawa. The federal government said the money will be provided on a cash basis over three years and used to invest “strategically, alongside the private sector, in Canadian projects and companies driving our economic transformation.”

The government said the fund will focus on clean and conventional energy, critical minerals, agriculture and infrastructure, and will seek market-rate returns. In the release, Carney said the vehicle is meant to help advance “nation-building projects” and give Canadians a way to share in the benefits.

Finance Canada said the fund will be set up as a new Crown corporation — a state-owned entity — operating at arm’s length from government. It is to be led by a chief executive officer and an independent board of directors, and will report through the minister of finance and national revenue, the government said.

Ottawa also said it plans to create a retail investment product so individual Canadians can invest in the fund. Consultations on that design will take place in the coming months, according to the government backgrounder. The backgrounder said investors’ initial capital would be protected, but the structure has not been finalized.

The announcement is significant because Canada has not previously had a federal sovereign wealth fund. Provincial public investment funds already exist, including Alberta’s Heritage Savings Trust Fund and Quebec’s Generations Fund, but those operate at the provincial level rather than nationally.

The move also fits into Ottawa’s broader effort to speed up major “national interest” projects through the Major Projects Office and the Building Canada Act, both created in 2025. The government said the new fund is intended to support that push by helping finance large-scale domestic investments.

More details on the fund’s mandate, structure and implementation are expected in the Spring Economic Update on April 28, the government said. Ottawa also said it will create a Canada Strong Fund Transition Office to finalize the fund’s governance, mandate and the planned retail product.

According to the government, returns generated by the fund will be reinvested to grow it. The backgrounder also said the fund could expand through other assets Ottawa allocates to it, and that the government may later consider additional sources of capital, including “unlocking the full value of federal assets.”

The government said the Canada Strong Fund will complement, rather than replace, existing federal financing bodies such as the Canada Infrastructure Bank, Export Development Canada and the Canada Growth Fund, and that mandate reviews will be conducted to avoid duplication.

The Prime Minister’s Office release also pointed to a growing pipeline of potential projects. Since September 2025, the government said, 15 projects have been referred and six transformative strategies are in development by the Major Projects Office, representing more than C$126 billion in investment.