Under Mark Carney, Canada’s Liberal government has become the willing instrument of corporate power, reviving the Business Council’s backroom rule and sidelining democracy in the process. Photo courtesy Mark Carney/Facebook.

Most Canadians have no idea what the Business Council of Canada is or who it represents. But in Ottawa, the organization and its lobbyists are recognized power players, enjoying more influence and access than ever. Business Council CEO Goldy Hyder scored a face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney just days after he was elected, and the group’s lobbyists have been in constant contact with Carney and his top officials ever since.

Through the Business Council, corporate Canada has laid out its wishlist in no uncertain terms: fast-tracking resource extraction, slashing taxes for Big Tech and the wealthy, gutting public services, and pouring money into the arms industry.

Perhaps most controversially, after an election framed around standing up to the United States, the Business Council has pushed for closer ties with the Trump regime—despite overwhelming evidence that it is an unreliable and erratic partner.

On every major file, Carney has delivered. His Liberal government has quickly aligned itself with the Council’s priorities, leaving many Liberal supporters disoriented. Yet in many ways, this marks a return to form in the longstanding alliance between Canada’s political class and its corporate elite.

Carney’s election has sparked something of a renaissance for the Business Council, which had felt sidelined in recent years. Once a dominant force in shaping economic policy throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Council—which was known for a time as the Canadian Council of Chief Executives—saw its influence wane under the Trudeau government.

Now, with Carney at the helm, Ottawa has undergone what Politico describes as a major “vibe shift.” Gone are Trudeau’s tearful apologies and drawn-out consultations. Instead, Carney’s Liberals, in lockstep with the Conservatives, have rushed through contentious bills like C-2 (Strong Borders Act) and C-5 (Building Canada Act), while rapidly reorienting federal priorities toward corporate interests and military expansion.

While First Nations, environmental groups, and migrant rights advocates are being shut out of the halls of power, corporate executives are enjoying an open-door policy, meeting regularly with Carney’s top ministers and advisors. As Politico reports, “corporate honchos want in—and are scoring face time” as Carney pushes ahead with ambitious, ready-made “nation-building” projects.

No group has benefitted more from this access than the Business Council of Canada. According to Taylor-Vaisey and Djuric, Council CEO Goldy Hyder says the group can barely keep up with the flood of invitations from Carney’s new government, which has been “full of outreach… from the highest levels on down.”

All the engagement is paying off. In just a few short months, Carney’s Liberal government has ticked one item after another off the corporate lobby group’s to-do list: scrapping the carbon tax (which the Business Council previously supported as a necessary price to pay for pipelines) and the capital gains tax hike; fast-tracking resource extraction projects and weakening First Nations’ rights and environmental regulations; and massively expanding military spending while announcing the deepest spending cuts in a generation.

The Business Council is no ordinary lobby group. It represents the CEOs of over 170 of the largest corporations in Canada, and its board of directors brings together some of the most powerful executives in the country. Billionaire grocery mogul Galen Weston, the face of corporate greed in Canada, sits on the Council’s board, as do CEOs from pipeline companies (TC Energy, Keyera), major banks (CIBC, National Bank), and other leading financial institutions (Blackrock, Power Corporation) including Brookfield........

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