When Prime Minister Mark Carney visited the United Arab Emirates last November, he was looking to expand trade. What he didn’t expect was an offer by the U.A.E. to invest $70 billion in Canada over the coming years.

Jean Charest, the former Quebec premier and current co-chair of the Canada-U.A.E. Business Council, was there when the Emiratis made the offer.

LILLEY: United Arab Emirates unlikely to walk away from plan to invest $70B in Canada Back to video

“It wasn’t expected, they hadn’t given us a heads up,” Charest said in a phone interview from Montreal on Tuesday.

He also said there were no specifics in terms of what they would invest in, just a discussion of general areas such as energy, strategic minerals and infrastructure.

“Canada is diversifying our trade and finding new investors to fuel our plans to build Canada strong,” Carney said in November at the end of his trip.

Ready or not, here comes the cash?

A headline in the Financial Times out of London........

© Edmonton Sun