THE DISPATCH

The M&E Dispatch

So Mark Carney Has His Majority.

What This Could, and Should, Mean for Canada

As of last night, it's official. Three byelection wins, two in Toronto, one in a razor-thin contest in Terrebonne, have pushed the Liberals to 174 seats. Combined with five floor crossings over recent months, Mark Carney now leads a majority government. He won't face a general election until the fall of 2029.

Before we go further: this article isn't Team Anyone. Party politics, in 2026, is borish. The internet has changed the pace at which information reaches us, and the world now moves at a speed that makes "opposition for the sake of opposition because it's not my team" genuinely counterproductive. We don't have the luxury of stalling projects out of spite while the rest of the planet races to lock down supply chains and energy security.

This is your government for the next three years. So let's talk about what that means, because if you're paying attention, there are more avenues to progress open right now than we've seen in a long time.

Carney and his Mandate

Whatever your politics, Carney's résumé commands respect on the economic file. A doctorate in economics from Oxford. Thirteen years at Goldman Sachs. Governor of the Bank of Canada during the 2008 financial crisis, where he cut rates months before most other central banks, helping Canada recover faster than any G7 nation. Then the first non-British Governor of the Bank of England in its 330-year history, steering monetary policy through Brexit and early COVID.

He's been described consistently as centrist, technocratic, and pragmatic. He killed the consumer carbon tax, moved to streamline project approvals, and promised to diversify Canada's trade relationships away from its dependence on the U.S. And critically for this readership: he has shown, through action, that he understands the strategic value of what sits beneath Canadian soil.

Critical Minerals, The Numbers Speak

At the G7 Summit in Kananaskis in June 2025, Carney introduced the Critical Minerals Production Alliance, a Canada-led initiative to diversify global supply chains and counter China's dominance in mineral processing. Since then, the Alliance has mobilized $18.5 billion in Canadian critical minerals projects across 56 partnerships with 12 allied nations.

The toolkit backing this up is substantial: a $2-billion Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund providing equity investments, loan guarantees, and offtake agreements. A $1.5-billion First and Last Mile Fund for the roads and transmission lines that connect remote mines to markets. An expanded exploration tax credit covering twelve additional minerals critical to defence and semiconductors. And a Major Projects Office targeting two-year approval timelines under a "one project, one review, one decision" framework.

Meanwhile, Carney has been on planes. A critical minerals pact with Germany. A landmark visit to Australia, the first by a Canadian PM in nearly two decades, where IFM announced its intention to invest up to $10 billion in Canada. Partnerships with Japan, India, and the EU. And standing alongside Doug Ford in December, the pointed declaration that U.S. access to Canada's critical minerals is "not assured", that Canada has other partners around the world who are very interested in these value chains.

That statement is leverage. And it's leverage built on the back of the mining and energy sector.

So Where Does That Leave You?

Here's where the Dispatch gets direct.

The door is open. Wider than it's been in years. But doors don't walk through themselves.

Tell your story. The Alliance is actively signing deals with allied nations. The Major Projects Office is reviewing projects. The Sovereign Fund is ramping up. If you've got a project, a resource, a technology, make sure the people making decisions know you exist.

Share your project. Germany, Australia, Japan, India, the EU, these countries are actively seeking Canadian partners. Your project profile isn't just a document. It's your pitch to a global audience looking for exactly what Canada has to offer.

Reach as many people as you can. Carney is out selling Canada on a global stage, Berlin, Canberra, New Delhi, Davos. Make sure you're showing up when people come knocking. Because they are going to come knocking.

The geopolitical mess we find ourselves in, tariff wars, supply chain weaponization, China's grip on mineral processing, the scramble for defence-critical inputs, has made Canada's resource endowment more valuable than at any point in a generation. The question isn't whether the opportunity is there. It's whether you're positioned to capture it.

You don't have to love the dealer. You don't have to wear the jersey. But if you're sitting at the table refusing to play because you don't like the colour of the chips, you're going to watch someone in Australia or Finland pick up the opportunity instead.

Canada has the geology, the workforce, the partnerships, and now a government with the mandate and the runway to get things built.

Your move.

-Lee

“What you're hired for, is to help us... to help those who are going out there to try to earn a living.” - Glengarry Glen Ross