OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney said he is “pleased” with former prime minister Stephen Harper’s support during his government’s inaugural Canada Investment Summit in Toronto.

“I’ve taken advice from Mr. Harper, I’ve taken advice from Mr. Chrétien, Mr. Trudeau, as I should in this role,” said Carney, during a press conference at the summit on Tuesday. “I’m pleased that he’s here supporting…this effort.”

Harper will deliver the keynote closing speech of the summit on Tuesday evening. The former Conservative prime minister currently serves as chairman of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation and is co-founder of the investment fund Vision-One Management.

Carney said like other former prime ministers, Harper is a Canadian patriot and is well positioned in the global investment landscape.

“I’m aware that…in his current role, he’s influential, and he’s influential with a number of investors and businesses around world, and it’s helpful for Canada,” said Carney. “So, I thank him for those contributions.”

Just over year ago during the 2025 federal election, Harper endorsed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for prime minister and took aim at Carney’s record, particularly his role in the global financial crisis as the governor of the Bank of Canada.

Still, Harper’s presence at Carney’s investment summit could be interpreted as an endorsement of the prime minister’s strategy to attract more global capital investment in Canada. Carney hopes to attract $1 trillion in investment over the next five years.

When asked on Tuesday whether Harper’s participation in the summit undermines his economic criticisms of Carney, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said it doesn’t.

“I spoke to prime minister Harper about this a few days ago, and of course Conservatives are always willing to put Canada first, and will work with anybody just like I did last week in New York when I went there and I fought for Canada and stood side by side with Canadians of all political backgrounds to fight for tariff-free trade with the United States,” said Poilievre, during a press conference in Vancouver.

“I’m encouraged that prime minister Harper is doing the same thing,” he added.

Poilievre said his party is asking for results that will help Canadian pocketbooks.

“Summits, signing ceremonies, speeches — they’re all fine,” said Poilievre. “But what we need from the Liberals right now are results to save you money, to save Canadians’ jobs.”

The two-day summit will wrap up Tuesday with several announcements, including the government’s intention to privatize operations at Canada’s four largest airports, a decrease in the marginal effective tax rate on new business investment from 13 per cent to 6.4 per cent, a $50-billion investment by Bell Canada to expand its AI data centre project in Saskatchewan and a $50-billion “Maple Fund” partnership between the CPP Investments and Brookfield Asset Management.

More to come.

National Post

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.