The 24 hours that could change Canada’s economic trajectory
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- Canada is hosting its inaugural Investment Summit on Sept. 14-15 in Toronto, led by Prime Minister Mark Carney and two major pension funds, pulled together in about six months.
- Nearly 100 global investment organizations from 28 countries, collectively managing almost $120-trillion, are expected at the invitation-only event of about 250 people.
- Confirmed guests include Blackstone's Jonathan Gray, BlackRock's Larry Fink, and senior figures from Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase, KKR, PIMCO, TPG and Ardian — though JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Berkshire CEO Greg Abel are not attending personally.
- The federal government has set a target of $500-billion in new private-sector investment over five years, but few projects are fully fleshed out or ready to break ground.
- CPPIB CEO John Graham said most global investors' portfolios are "underweight" Canada at 1% or less, versus two to three times that needed to match Canada's share of global market capitalization.
- The summit's push coincides with Canada's trade war with the U.S. and the Trump-era reshaping of global trade and security alliances, creating a window to court investors rethinking where to deploy capital.
- A small group of Canadian CEOs is drafting an open letter urging domestic business leaders to develop more projects attractive to long-term capital, with the Canadian pension funds collectively holding only about one quarter of their $2.6-trillion in domestic assets.
Why it matters: With global investors managing nearly $120-trillion and most "underweight" Canada at 1% or less of their portfolios, the summit is a finite window to redirect capital flows at a moment when the U.S. trade war has made Canada newly receptive to foreign money — and success is measured in follow-up activity, not deals announced on stage.
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