Visits to Canada by potential foreign investors plunged by half in 2020, the federal government said, suggesting that direct investment in the Canadian economy from abroad won’t quickly snap back from the COVID-19 pandemic. (The Logic)

Talking point: Last year was the grimmest for trade and international investment since the 2008 financial crisis, Global Affairs Canada said in its State of Trade 2021 report. Foreign direct investment fell 49 per cent and Canadian investment abroad declined 41 per cent. Executives who might build or buy into facilities here still can’t visit to check out their options. After the financial crisis, foreign investment took four years to recover to pre-crisis levels, but returned more strongly than in any other G7 country, a history showing that those capital flows “do rebound from a large shock and hopefully they will likewise rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic in the not-too-distant future,” the report says.