Final day of Canada Investment Summit underway in Toronto

Tuesday is the second and final day of the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto.

The invite-only event has brought together hundreds of business leaders from across the country and around the world with the purpose of drumming up investments for Canada’s major projects.

These are representatives from top financial firms that have a handle on roughly $150 trillion worth of assets around the world.

It also brought together leaders of Canada’s provinces and territories, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

“Our government is doing everything we can to protect workers and build a more competitive, resilient and self-reliant economy. A major part of our plan involves diversifying trade networks and finding new partners and new trading partners overseas,” says Ford.

Ford says Ontario has fifteen major investment-ready projects worth tens of billions of dollars.

This all comes as all levels of government look to non-U.S. partners in economic relations.

But federal Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre likened foreign investment to foreign takeovers.

“Don’t forget, he says it’s all because of him, and if you’ve heard that, you’d probably think that foreign investors are flooding into Canada to build new factories, new mines, new businesses and create new jobs. Sounds great, except that’s not what the numbers show. This is where the foreign direct investment becomes a foreign direct illusion,” says Poilievre.

The two-day event was an opportunity for Canada and its provinces to pitch its major infrastructure projects in search of potential investors.

The Liberal government had set an ambitious target of $1 trillion over the next five years in May this year.

These efforts to shore up capital from foreign investors is in lockstep with the government’s efforts to diversify its trade relations.

Recently, the focus for the Carney government has been on the European Union, with the prime minister floating the idea of Canada becoming an affiliate member of the group of nations.

On Monday, the European Parliament announced it will set up an antenna office in Ottawa, saying the move reflects the close and longstanding partnership between the two countries.

That such diplomacy is an essential pillar to transatlantic cooperation.

This isn’t out of left field for the European Union to set up antenna offices in other countries.

There are nine worldwide – in Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, two in the U.S. — one in New York for the United Nations and one in Washington D.C. for EU-U.S. relations.

Carney heads to France Tuesday afternoon once he wraps up the Canada Investment Summit, where it’s reported former prime minister Stephen Harper will deliver a closing speech.

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