Canada courts global asset owners as pension funds help pitch 'Canada, Inc.' to bring capital home
Canada is asking the same global investors who helped pull an estimated $1tn out of the country to bring it back – and it is putting its own pension giants at the centre of that pitch.
Prime Minister Mark Carney will host the first‑ever Canada Investment Summit in Toronto from September 14 to 15, with a goal of catalysing $1tn in total investment over the next five years into “nation‑building projects.”
The federal government will host the summit with CPP Investments and PSP Investments, described by the Prime Minister’s Office as two of Canada’s largest and most sophisticated institutional investors.
Carney is targeting capital for clean and conventional energy, critical minerals, new technologies and artificial intelligence – sectors the government says can create thousands of high‑paying jobs and support “a stronger, more independent, more resilient economy.”
The Financial Post reports that the government has already secured $97bn in new investments across 20 economic and defence partnerships over the past year.
The scale of the task reflects the damage of the past decade.
The New York Times, citing a Royal Bank of Canada report, said Canada has experienced a net loss of $1tn in investment over the last 10 years and quoted the finding that “for every dollar invested in Canada from abroad, two dollars exited.”
The same report said Canadian pension and asset funds control about $10tn in assets, much of it invested abroad, and suggested more of that capital could be kept within the country.
More recently, foreign direct investment in Canada has started to pick up again.
CBC News reported that FDI reached its highest level since 2007 while Canada’s outward investment flows cooled in 2025.
The Canadian Press, citing RBC, said last year was Canada’s first to attract more than $100bn in FDI since 2015 and that more than $1tn in foreign investment exited the economy between 2015 and 2024, which the report called the “largest capital exodus in Canadian history.”
Looking ahead, RBC projects Canada could attract up to $1.8tn over the next decade if it advances projects in pipelines and liquefied natural gas terminals, expands nuclear, hydro and renewable power, and grows as a critical mineral supplier.
CBC News reported broad agreement among business leaders and analysts that oil and gas (including pipelines and LNG), housing and defence are under the greatest pressure to attract capital.
Ottawa’s plan to spend more than $80bn in the defence sector over five years and said foreign firms have taken notice.
The summit is designed squarely around large institutional investors.
Carney has invited 100 of the world’s biggest investors to Toronto, including private firms such as BlackRock and sovereign wealth funds like Singapore’s GIC.
Invitations went out this week, and CBC said none of the invitees had responded before publication.
CPP Investments president and chief executive John Graham said his organisation is proud to support the summit and help bring leading global institutional investors and long-term partners to Canada, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
He said Canada is at its best when public and private sector leaders work together to showcase the country’s strengths, deepen commercial ties and create lasting economic value.
PSP Investments chief executive Deborah Orida called the meeting “a powerful opportunity” to spotlight Canada’s long‑term strengths and to “catalyse new relationships and partnerships that can drive increased investment into our country.”
CPP Investments senior managing director Michel Leduc told CBC News the summit will pitch “Canada, Inc.” as a safe, reliable place to invest in ports, pipelines and infrastructure amid global volatility.
He said, “Canada is in a really good place. Canada is cool again,” and compared the summit to “a large public company holding their investor day.”
Carney’s strategy leans heavily on Canada’s macro credentials.
The Prime Minister’s Office describes Canada as a superpower in clean and conventional energy, with vast critical mineral deposits, free trade agreements covering 1.5bn people, one of the world’s most educated workforces, the lowest net debt‑to‑GDP ratio in the G7 and the most tax‑competitive environment in the G7 for new business investment.
At the same time, the policy and legal backdrop remains complex.
The New York Times reported that Carney has blamed project‑approval delays – especially for pipelines – for deterring investors and has set up a “Major Projects Office” to review and approve projects of “national interest” within two years.
CBC News said this office now oversees a suite of projects ranging from the Contrecoeur Container Terminal at the Port of Montreal to the McIlvenna Bay Foran Copper Mine Project in Saskatchewan.
According to the Times, Indigenous leaders have already raised concerns about potential pipelines through their territories, and the paper noted that the Supreme Court of Canada requires consultation with Indigenous communities on developments crossing their traditional lands.
The same report said environmental groups plan to challenge in court any federal moves they view as shortcuts around environmental laws.
Carney has framed the summit in geopolitical terms as well.
The Times reported that he links the investment plan to reducing Canada’s economic dependence on the United States in response to US President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada and to shifts in global energy markets driven by Russia’s attack on Ukraine and American and Israeli strikes on Iran.
The Canadian Press added that the announcement comes as Canada faces economic disruptions from the “Iran war” spiking gas prices and tariffs imposed by the US.
The Prime Minister’s Office said International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu believes the summit “sends a signal that Canada is a serious economic partner on the global stage” and that the $1tn capital target responds to “unprecedented trade disruption” by seeking growth, good jobs and long‑term prosperity.
Business Council of Canada chief executive Goldy Hyder struck a more cautious note.
He told CBC News that a summit is a good chance to promote Canada and fund major projects, but warned that “plans, memorandums of understanding and words alone are not enough.”
He said Canada needs to prove it can “do and build big things” and argued that if the country does not get resources “out of the ground expeditiously in an investment‑friendly regulatory climate,” it risks missing the current window for new capital.
