Industry Minister Mélanie Joly is signalling that significant foreign investment agreements are on the horizon, as a high-profile two-day gathering of the world’s largest investment funds prepares to get underway in Toronto.
In a recent interview, the minister told The Globe and Mail that she expects memorandums of understanding to emerge from the Canada Investment Summit, with many projects already the subject of months of private discussions between Ottawa and prospective backers.
“I’m confident that we can be able to reach deals. There’s lots of interest,” Ms Joly said. “There’s been a lot of conversations about potential deals before the summit. Many of the projects that are on the table, we’ve been discussing with many investors for months now.”
She added: “Now I’m confident that we can get to MOUs, so intent of investment. Of course, then there will be work to be done on the due-diligence side, which makes sense.”
A Summit Built to Attract Global Capital
Prime Minister Mark Carney first unveiled plans for the event in April, framing it as a cornerstone of his broader strategy to court foreign investment for nation-building programmes and to diversify Canada’s economic relationships away from dependence on the United States.
The federal government is co-hosting the summit alongside two of the country’s biggest pension funds — the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board — at Toronto’s Four Seasons Hotel.
The guest list reads like a roll call of global capital. Investors from the United Arab Emirates and the wider Persian Gulf region are in attendance, having been actively courted by Mr Carney. China International Capital Corporation and China Investment Corporation are also expected to participate.
The summit kicks off with a gala dinner on Monday evening, followed by a full day of panels on Tuesday. While certain sessions will be open to media, the bulk of negotiations will unfold behind closed doors in private meetings along the sidelines.
Two parallel investment events are also taking place in Toronto on Monday. The California-based Milken Institute is hosting Global Dialogues Toronto at the Park Hyatt, sponsored by TD and attended by Canadian banking executives. Separately, the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association is holding an all-day showcase centred on the technology sector.
Navigating National Security and Regulatory Certainty
As minister responsible for the Investment Canada Act, Ms Joly occupies a pivotal role. The legislation empowers the federal government to scrutinise significant foreign investments, including through a “net benefit” test that weighs an investment’s impact on economic activity, employment and competition. It also permits reviews on national-security grounds, covering risks around sensitive technology transfers and involvement of foreign state-owned entities.
Ms Joly stressed that protecting Canada’s security interests need not come at the cost of deterring capital.
“We need to be able to provide a form of predictability to companies and investors from different jurisdictions to make sure that if they are interested in a project, they’re not surprised afterwards by a complicated regulatory system that could prevent their investment,” she said.
It is a balancing act that sits at the heart of this week’s proceedings. Investors want clarity; governments want assurance. Bridging that gap will be the central challenge for Ottawa’s team on the ground in Toronto.
The Prospectus: 160 Projects, but No Airports
Organisers have privately circulated a 66-page prospectus — reviewed by The Globe and Mail — summarising more than 160 Canadian projects open for investment. The catalogue spans conventional and clean energy, minerals and metals, marine and port infrastructure, power and utilities, digital technology, advanced manufacturing and transportation.
Notably absent from the document are Canada’s large airports, despite recent government signals that significant changes to ownership models are under consideration. The April fiscal update referenced “alternative models of ownership” for airports, language that followed a 2025 budget line about considering “options for the privatization of airports.”
Airport privatisation represents precisely the kind of large-scale, revenue-generating asset that institutional investors such as pension funds favour over so-called greenfield developments. Yet the federal government has offered no detailed update on its plans in this area.
Nor has Ottawa provided a comprehensive update on the proposed $25-billion sovereign wealth fund — the Canada Strong Fund — which the spring budget suggested would draw in part from “generating the full value from federal assets.”
Some business and policy groups argue that tax reform is essential to truly incentivising investment ahead of the summit. Ms Joly acknowledged this pressure, stating: “We’ve done a lot on the tax front already, but we have to do more and we will do more,” though she did not elaborate on specific proposals.
Unions Push Back as Provinces Make Their Own Play
Not everyone is welcoming the summit’s agenda with open arms. The Canadian Labour Congress has urged Ottawa to keep airports off the table, releasing a report on Friday that made an economic case against privatisation.
“Canadians already pay too much to fly. Privatizing our airports risks making that problem worse,” said CLC Secretary-Treasurer Lily Chang. “Private investors need to make a profit, and that money has to come from somewhere. The evidence shows it can come from higher costs for passengers, lower labour costs and staffing, or revenue that would otherwise stay in public hands.”
Meanwhile, provincial leaders are staging their own parallel push. Ontario Premier Doug Ford highlighted his province’s list of 15 priority projects, spanning energy, mining and artificial intelligence. He said he is scheduled to meet business leaders from Kuwait, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Qatar, Norway, Japan and Australia.
“This is about building relationships, opening doors and making the case that Ontario is one of the most investable places anywhere in the world,” Mr Ford said in a statement.
The Diplomatic Dimension: Europe Awaits
Immediately after the summit, Mr Carney will travel to Strasbourg to address the European Union. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, citing sources, that discussions are under way regarding whether Canada could secure “associate member” status with the bloc.
Ms Joly, a former foreign affairs minister, declined to confirm or deny the report when pressed. She pointed instead to the broader diplomatic effort, noting that she and her colleagues are working with European counterparts on a wide range of issues. Canada is scheduled to hold a Canada-EU summit at the end of October.
“In view of the Canada-EU summit, we hope that we can work together to align even more interests,” she said.
Why it Matters
This week’s summit represents more than a single event — it is a defining test of Mark Carney’s vision for Canada’s economic future. If the government can convert months of quiet diplomacy into binding commitments from Gulf, Asian and European capital, it will demonstrate that diversification beyond the American market is more than a rhetorical aspiration. The decisions made — and the deals that fail to materialise — in Toronto will shape the trajectory of Canadian investment policy for years, while the unresolved questions around airport ownership and the Canada Strong Fund serve as a reminder that ambition and execution remain very different things.