Source: The Many vs. The Money Coalition
Sept 2, 2026
CANADA INVESTMENT SUMMIT DOSSIER
Pitching Toronto as the headquarters for a NATO-linked “war bank” while protecting weapons exports behind regulatory loopholes isn't national defense, it's locking Canadians into an economy where peace is a bad investment.
TORONTO, ON — Today, as part of an ongoing campaign to unmask the real-world risks behind Prime Minister Mark Carney’s upcoming Canada Investment Summit, the Many vs. The Money Coalition releases its latest dossier exposing the government’s push to transform Canada into a global hub for war financing and weapons manufacturing.
In glossy investor decks, Carney is pitching Canada as a secure, fast-tracked harbor for defense investment, anchored by a yet-to-be-realized plan to house the headquarters of the new $116 billion Defence, Security, and Resilience Bank (DSRB) in Toronto. But while Ottawa promises global financiers smooth sailing, organized communities across the country are blocking factory gates, confronting corporate executives, and building a direct-action “People’s Arms Embargo” to disrupt the weapons supply chain on the ground.
Behind Carney’s pitch of “sovereignty and rearmament,” global capital faces escalating reputational liabilities, regulatory minefields, and nationwide resistance:
- Severe Public Backlash & Moral Hazard: Carney is courting international institutions to fund the DSRB, a NATO-linked bank designed to bypass parliamentary oversight and use public money to de-risk private weapons investments. As Canadians face soaring grocery prices, housing unaffordability, and crippling healthcare cuts, Ottawa’s plan to pledge billions to a war bank while asking everyday families to stomach austerity is triggering intense, widespread public outrage with over a hundred civil society organizations signing an open letter opposing the plan. Taxpayers refuse to shoulder the downside financial risks for private arms dealers making record profits.
- Carney’s War Bank Flops on the International Stage: Not only is domestic opposition growing, but Reuters just reported that no major economies, aside from Canada, have committed to participate in the institution – just weeks ahead of the deadline. Carney has stuck his neck out for a risky new financial body that none of his often cited “middle power” allies seem interested in joining.
- Direct Action & Supply Chain Vulnerabilities: As demonstrated by coast-to-coast mobilizations targeting over 40 facilities connected to weapons giants like Elbit Systems and Raytheon ELCAN, Canadian communities are actively enforcing a “People's Arms Embargo”. From factory blockades to corporate inbox shutdowns, the network sustaining weapons manufacturing in Canada is facing intensifying disruption.
- Corporate Deception & Export Liabilities: Despite federal claims of “pauses” on arms exports to Israel, investigative findings reveal a continuous pipeline of Canadian military goods, including F-35 components, explosives, and ammunition, shipped directly to active conflict zones, often surreptitiously routed on commercial passenger flights. Capital entering Canadian defense firms faces mounting legal exposure, UN Genocide Convention scrutiny, and intense public exposure.
- Trade-War Entrapment & U.S. Supply Chain Risk: Pitching defense expansion as an act of economic self-defense against the ongoing U.S. trade war is a dangerous fiction. Canada's military industry is overwhelmingly integrated into U.S. prime contractors. With escalating 50% tariffs and chaotic cross-border trade friction, investing in Canadian defense manufacturing doesn't build sovereignty, it traps global capital in a volatile, U.S.-dominated supply chain subject to sudden Washington trade retaliation.
“Mark Carney is trying to sell global investors on the fantasy of a war economy, but Canada is not a blank check for arms dealers,” said Rachel Small, Canadian Lead for World Beyond War. “While families across this country struggle to pay rent and put food on the table amid the economic turmoil fueled by Trump, Carney is talking about “elbows up” and then awarding billions of dollars in military contracts to American arms manufacturers. And with his investor summit he is spending lavishly to bring hundreds of the richest CEOs on the planet to Toronto to parade a $116 billion war bank designed to fund and accelerate a global arms race and funnel public money directly to arms manufacturers. Leveraging a trade war crisis to double down on a war economy isn’t defense, it's a recipe for stranded capital and fierce community resistance.”
As established throughout this campaign, Mark Carney can sell the opportunity, but he cannot sell the outcome. Capital invested in Canadian weapons expansion is not entering a safe haven; it is entering an active landscape of direct action, trade instability, and organized community opposition.
This is the third issue of The Canada Investment Summit Dossier, documenting the real-world resistance confronting the projects Mark Carney is inviting global capital to profit from.
About The Many vs. The Money Coalition
The Many vs. The Money is a pan-Canadian movement coalition convened by the Council of Canadians, 8th Fire Rising, and World BEYOND War. Bringing together labor unions, Indigenous nations, climate networks, and public interest advocates representing thousands of workers and community members nationwide, the coalition opposes the sell-off of Canada's public infrastructure and resources to global private capital. From September 12–14, the coalition is hosting The Many vs. The Money Counter-Summit in Toronto—featuring Naomi Klein, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and front-line organizers—culminating in a mass rally and demonstration to crash Mark Carney's Investment Summit on September 14th. Learn more at manyvsmoneysummit.ca.