The head of the

country’s largest bank

says Canada’s

growth outlook

is looking strong as Ottawa looks to speed up the building of

energy-related projects

aimed at

reducing reliance

on the United States.

“Canada has some

unprecedented growth opportunities

that we haven’t seen in the last decade or 15 years,”

Royal Bank of Canada

chief executive

Dave McKay

said at an event on Tuesday. “I’ve been more excited about Canada than I have been in the last decade. The tone at the top is really good.”

He said this is the first time in his decade-long tenure as CEO that he has seen a “risk-on” theme from foreign investors, who have generally been worried about corrections in the mortgage sector, making it hard to attract capital.

McKay said one of the reasons foreign investors are excited is Canada’s goal to

create a more diversified economy

by focusing on its energy, defence, mining and transportation sectors.

“There’s a thematic tailwind,” he said. “I haven’t felt it in 10 years.”

Getting these projects approved, funded and in place won’t be easy, but McKay said there’s a feeling that everyone is “pulling in the same direction for the first time” and that the view amongst “all leaders” is that now is the time to “get stuff done.”

In terms of the economy, he said Canadians may not be buying homes like they used to, but they are using their disposable income to consume more, which has helped to create jobs, stabilize unemployment and offset some of the impacts of the tariffs imposed by the U.S. As a result, the economy has been resilient.

However, McKay said there are still future risks related to a K-shaped economy — when different groups of people recover at different speeds — in both Canada and the United States.

There’s an increasing differentiation between the top 20 per cent of earners in both countries and the bottom 40 per cent to 60 per cent, he said, and that disparity is “really driving the political agenda” in both countries.

“That disparity is much greater in the United States and much more severe,” he said. “And it will become an increasing political issue as you approach the midterms in November.”

How the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement plays out later this year is another thing McKay is keeping an eye on. The current deal between the three nations has shielded Canada from most of Donald Trump’s tariffs, but the deal is up for renegotiation.

He doesn’t expect any resulting changes to “shock” the overall agreement “because it’s really good for America,” but it will be tough for every company to make it through that “repositioning.”

The Canadian government is also trying to reposition the banking sector to be more competitive. McKay said he often gets questions about whether he is worried about a fintech or stablecoin disruption, and his response is, “Who are you going to trust to protect you?”

He said RBC spends an enormous amount of money and time to tackle issues related to cybersecurity and that bar keeps getting higher.

“Not every institution can afford that,” he said.

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• Email: nkarim@postmedia.com