Prime Minister Mark Carney plans to draw 100 of the world’s top CEOs, investors and global business leaders to Toronto to make the case for Canada as the most reliable place to invest in an uncertain world.
He announced plans for a Canada Investment Summit in September to get investors with as much as $50 trillion worth of capital into a room, in the hopes they’ll fund the major projects and industries at the centre of his economic agenda. The gathering is part of Carney’s plan to attract $1 trillion in investment to Canada over the next five years.
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Chaimae Chouiekh and Catherine McIntyre
The idea: The invites are coming from Carney himself, but the event will be co-hosted by two of Canada’s biggest pension funds, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP) and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP).
The timing is almost as important as the guest list. The idea is to introduce investors to Toronto at the height of its glitzy season, on the heels of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and in the middle of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Canadian content: The choice of hosts is also a strong signal for Canadian companies hoping for backing from the Maple 8 pension funds. Calls for the funds to invest more domestically have been building for years, cresting with the Buy Canadian movement triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.
“We were having dialogues about how to get more Canadian investors to invest in Canada,” CPP CEO Michel Leduc said in an interview.
Since then, CEOs at several of the funds have said they’re open to growing their Canadian portfolios—under the right conditions. The tone shift followed the federal government’s commitment to support major infrastructure projects, which could become investment targets for Canadian pensions and international investors. “The Summit is a strong signal that policymakers across Canada are focused on creating compelling investable opportunities,” Annesley Wallace, CEO of Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan, told The Logic.
The guest list: The Prime Minister’s Office wouldn’t give up the names of any specific invitees, but Audrey Champoux, Carney’s deputy director of communications, said the government is targeting international banks, pension plans, hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, private equity and asset managers.
Leduc said the guest list includes the top 10 to 20 investors in each of those categories, which together would represent roughly $50-trillion worth of capital. If he’s right, the list would include the likes of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager; J.P. Morgan, the U.S. investment firm; and the Government Pension Fund of Norway.
The Logic reached out to several of the investors likely to receive the prime minister’s invite, but none of the potential international participants responded immediately.
The pitch: Carney has emphasized Canada as a stable place to invest, as international trade disruptions and global conflicts threaten to upend economies around the world.
“We’re an energy superpower, with the most educated workforce in the world and rock-solid fiscal strength,” Carney said in a statement. “The first-ever Canada Investment Summit will capitalize on those advantages to help drive billions in new investments into Canada.”
The government argues his case is already resonating. Last year, Canada experienced the largest surge in foreign investment in nearly two decades, climbing to $96.8 billion. Nearly half of those investments were driven by mergers and acquisitions, however.
It’s not clear which projects the government plans to put forward, but his office said they will focus on sectors that will boost Canada’s competitiveness, including clean energy, critical minerals and artificial intelligence.