Canada aims for $1T in global investment amid U.S. trade war

The Canadian government has set an “ambitious plan” to bring in one trillion dollars of investment into the country over the next five years.

The first-ever Canada Investment Summit kicked off in Toronto Monday morning, bringing together investors and political leaders from around the world.

The summit is a key component of Ottawa’s plan to diversify and expand global market connections in the face of the U.S. trade war.

The Canadian government is pitching opportunities to fund projects in sectors including energy, infrastructure and defence. It is making the country more attractive to international investors, with a change to federal tax policy.

The finance minister announced that investors committing $1 billion or more will receive advance clarity on their tax obligations before finalizing their investments.

“The world’s largest investors managing over 120 trillion dollars of assets will come to peer into our shop window because the world is looking at Canada differently,” said Prime Minister Mark Carney.

Premier Doug Ford says the Canada Investment Summit is about building relationships, opening doors and making the case that Ontario is one of the most investable places anywhere in the world.

Ford says Ontario has what the world needs and the province will “make sure the world knows it.”

“Canada I think is really positioned with all the natural things the world needs, critical minerals, energy, land, water,” said Shemara Wikramanayake, managing director of Macquarie Group.

WATCH MORE: Why is this NATO summit focused on defence spending?

“It’s an auction of Canadian public resources … and an effort at the same time to finance destructive mega projects,” said Rachel Small, World Beyond War Canada organizer.

But some are critical of the summit, with protests and demonstrations by a variety of groups including unions, climate and housing advocates and indigenous leaders.

“Canada is getting very good at blackmailing the public. ‘Oh, if you don’t have these projects you won’t have money to support more Medicare’ … that is their story. Their story is false,” said Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks.

While the summit is aimed at attracting global capital, Canadian telecommunications company Bell Canada used the event to announce a plan to invest billions to quadruple the capacity of its AI data centres in Saskatchewan.

This plan is touted as a nation-building project aimed at protecting Canadian data sovereignty.

“This is the largest capital investment in Saskatchewan’s history,” Carney says.

On Tuesday, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper is expected to deliver the summit’s closing speech. It was under the Harper administration that Carney was appointed the Governor of the Bank of Canada in 2008.

READ MORE: Protests planned for Carney’s investment summit in Toronto