Ottawa, ON – Adam Chambers, Conservative Shadow Minister for Innovation, Science and Industry, issued the following statement on the reality of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s economic record:

“After promising to build the fastest-growing economy in the G7, over a year and a half later, Prime Minister Carney has begun to tout that the ‘start of the transformation in the economy is just beginning to show up in the numbers.’ But so far, his rhetoric does not match reality. 

“Since taking office, Canada’s economy has shrunk, including with the weakest first-year economic growth of any Prime Minister on record. Canada has been the only G20 country in a recession, and our economy has contracted in three of the last four quarters.

“While the Prime Minister points to projections of higher business investment and economic growth, forecasts are not results. And far from an investment boom, Statistics Canada reported that ‘business capital investment fell 0.7 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, the fifth consecutive quarterly decline.’ That means productive capital, that would lead to higher wages for workers, is shrinking.

“In lieu of capital investment, the Prime Minister points to foreign direct investment (FDI). But Canada has actually seen a net FDI outflow of $20.9 billion in the Prime Minister’s first four quarters. Additionally, foreign purchases of stocks, bonds and government debt are not the same as investment in building factories, machines and creating jobs.

“The reality is that 53 per cent of the total inward FDI came from mergers and acquisitions, which includes $44 billion worth of foreign takeovers of Canadian firms. This is not investment going towards building and making more in Canada; rather, it’s the transfer of ownership to foreign buyers, which some disguise as investment here at home.

“While takeovers of Canadian firms or higher valuations on the stock market are great news for corporate Canada, it transfers ownership of Canadian firms to foreigners and rarely trickles down to main street, doing little for the real economy. Canadians measure how well they are doing by their cost of groceries, affordability of housing, or their wages. 

“That’s the reality. Canadians aren’t experiencing an economy that’s growing faster to deliver higher incomes. Their reality is an economy that barely allows families to make their ends meet. Canada has the highest food inflation among its peers, with United Way finding 38 per cent of Canadians are experiencing food insecurity and the Superintendent Bankruptcy just reported that consumer insolvencies increased 9.6 per cent between the first quarter of 2025 and the second quarter of 2026. 

“In June, grocery prices were still up 3.9 per cent (almost double the inflation target) while the cost of transportation rose 6.7 per cent and gasoline prices surged 20.5 per cent from the previous year. In fact, since the Prime Minister took office, grocery inflation grew nearly 5 per cent and grocery prices are now over 30 per cent higher than they were in 2021.  Even if core inflation slows, Canadians still face high prices for goods they use every day, and the purchasing power lost under the Liberals hasn’t been restored. 

“Meanwhile, the average household now owes almost $1.80 in debt for every dollar they get in disposable income, the highest among G7 peers. That’s as RBC found that homeownership costs ate up 53 per cent of the median pre-tax household income in the first quarter of this year: 23 percentage points higher than the CMHC says is affordable. In Vancouver, it’s even worse at an extraordinary 84.1 per cent.

“Conservatives want to see real economic growth that turns rhetoric into reality. That means unleashing our resources, rebuilding our industrial base and attracting investment that will build homes, deliver affordable food and provide stronger take-home pay for workers.”