Listen Now
0:00
The federal government plans to contract out operations at four major airports, broaden the scope of a major investment tax writeoff and put a one-year deadline on approving or rejecting major project proposals, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto.
The summit, part of Carney’s effort to “catalyze” $1 trillion in investments in the Canadian economy over the next five years, was organized by the Prime Minister’s Office, the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board.
The country’s four largest airports—in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary—will be put up for bids by investment groups that want to operate them and profit from them. Canadian pension funds have been calling for this for years.
Related Articles
“We will reinvest the tens of billions of dollars of capital that we raise into infrastructure that Canada needs for the next generation,” Carney said.
That includes “a sovereign broadband backbone that connects Canadians from coast to coast to coast with more direct and secure links to Europe and Asia,” he said.
The tax benefit, meanwhile, will cost about $36 billion in tax revenues over five years, according to a news release. The measure lets businesses write capital expenses off against their tax bills all at once, as soon as a new asset is ready to use, instead of spreading the costs over an asset’s expected life.
“Your investment dollars will go a lot further in Canada than anywhere else in the advanced world,” Carney told the global investors gathered to hear his pitch in Yorkville’s Four Seasons hotel.
Carney spoke to leaders and investors controlling a collective $120 trillion. They were arrayed hip-to-hip in seats before him, with federal and provincial cabinet ministers sprinkled in the mix. A few, like Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, slipped in late and stood at the back for lack of seats.
“In terms of cash flow, this is the biggest thing we’ve done in multiple generations,” Champagne said outside the conference room. Only certain assets with very long lives—like buildings—will be excluded, he said.
Finally, Carney promised legislation once Parliament reconvenes next week that he called the Build Canada Strong Act (distinct from the Building Canada Act the Liberals previously passed). He promised the investors in the room that it will turbocharge the federal approvals process for projects that need them.
“Our standard will be simple: one project, one review, one year,” He said. “Canada will remain a country of high standards, but high standards do not require slow decisions. Speed, certainty [and] predictability themselves are competitive advantages.”
Other highlights from the Canada Investment Summit and other events on its sidelines:
- Radical Ventures announced Tuesday that it has raised the biggest venture capital fund in Canadian history. The Toronto-based, AI-focused VC firm has raised over US$1 billion so far for the fund, dubbed Breakouts. Investors in the fund include four of Canada’s largest retirement savings managers in the CPP Investments, PSP Investments, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan and OPTrust. Other Canadian backers include TD Bank and Bank of Montreal, as well as CI Global Asset Management. Radical said it’s also received commitments from foreign investors, although it did not name them.
- The Logic analyzed the 167 projects in the official Canada Investment Summit prospectus by sector, province and capital expenditure. Here are four charts that break it down.
- At the Milken Institute’s first Toronto event, business leaders warned that attracting the capital needed to develop the projects in the shop window this week will depend on reducing regulatory uncertainty and execution risks that held back past investment.
- At the Canadian Global Growth Forum, hosted by the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association, there were more warnings that it may not be easy to turn global intrigue about Canada into deals.
- Bell CEO Mirko Bibic announced plans to more than double the telecom giant’s national AI data-centre capacity via a significant expansion in Saskatchewan, under a non-binding new deal with the provincial government. Carney and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe were on hand for the announcement, as were former prime ministers Stephen Harper—who’ll be the closing speaker Tuesday at the investment summit—and Jean Chrétien.
- Moe is one of 11 premiers in Toronto for the summit, and while an official summit deal book is being circulated, he and some of his peers have arrived with deal books of their own, which promote their own agendas. The Logic obtained copies of some.
- One of the least flashy summit-linked announcements to date may also prove among the most significant: the Canada Revenue Agency pledged Monday to fast-track tax guidance for investments over $1 billion. Investors have already been able to get rulings on how the agency will tax the income from new investments, but now the CRA will bump requests on the biggest-ticket projects to the front of the line.
- CPP Investments and Brookfield Asset Management jointly launched a $50 billion Maple Fund to pursue “large-scale investments in critical infrastructure and strategic industries across Canada.” CPP and Brookfield will structure the investments on a 50/50 basis, with up to $25 billion of equity capital from each organization over an initial five years. The Logic first reported on the fund in 2024.
- Sun Life launched an infrastructure fund that will aim to deploy $5 billion over five years into investments that will “support Canada’s economic growth and resilience, while delivering long-term returns.”
- BlackRock said it would commit $15 million over the next three years to help Canadians build careers in the skilled trades, starting with ironworkers.
- Business Development Bank of Canada will invest $1 billion through its $6-billion defence platform, including $500 million in defence and dual-use technology funds and an additional $200 million in StrongNorth, increasing the fund to $500 million.
- TD is pledging $150 billion over five years in new financing and support in key Canadian sectors including energy, critical minerals, defence and aerospace, AI and infrastructure. The bank, which has earmarked the money for new financing, underwriting, advisory and other services, hopes the new funding will speed up an investment supercycle of funding for capital-intensive projects, and help its clients take advantage of it.
- Scotiabank committed more than $100 billion to fund Canadian businesses over the next five years. It will deploy the money to support Canadian companies and projects that “will drive forward Canada’s economic growth agenda,” according to a release. It also launched a think tank, the Scotia Growth Institute, that will study how to best support Canada’s long-term growth and competitiveness.
- Venture capital investor Arlene Dickinson is raising a new $500-million growth-equity fund that will back Canadian agriculture and food companies expanding in Southeast Asia. Farm Credit Canada is the fund’s lead investor, with a $150-million commitment. Dickinson, who will serve as general partner, is in discussions with other domestic and international investors to raise the rest.
- AI investment firm Intrepid Growth Partners has raised a US$525-million fund. The Toronto- and London-based firm, co-led by former CPP Investments CEO Mark Machin, along with Mark Shulgan and Ajay Agrawal, closed the fund at US$25 million above its target. Intrepid’s limited partners include Temasek, Abu Dhabi Investment Council and the British Business Bank. The firm is one of relatively few in Canada focused on investing in growth-stage companies.
- BMO plans to deploy $70 billion in new capital over the next 10 years to sectors it considers “critical” to Canada’s economic security and resilience. That could take the form of bank lending, debt capital markets activity and public equity raises, the bank said in a release Friday.
- CIBC is committing $2 billion to defence businesses. The bank is targeting small and medium-sized Canadian defence and dual-use businesses, including in infrastructure, energy, cybersecurity, digital capabilities and advanced technologies. The program will combine financing with sector expertise and dedicated banking support. It has also built a national network of defence specialists within its commercial bank.
- The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan will invest $10 billion more in Canada by the end of 2027, into public and private investments “that meet its return objectives.” The $303-billion pension fund manager’s press release announcing the move directly linked it to the summit, but offered few other details about its plans for the money.
- PSP Investments expects its Canadian investments to surpass $100 billion over the next few years, about 30 to 40 per cent above current levels, as it sees a growing pipeline of opportunities at home. “It’s not a top-down geographic allocation decision, but rather a reflection of the good investment opportunities that we think will serve our pension mandate well,” CEO Deborah Orida told The Logic in an interview.
- RBC launched a $1.4 billion fund to back Canadian tech companies. The RBCx Growth Fund will invest in sectors such as energy, agriculture, AI, health care and defence. Sid Paquette, the head of the bank’s technology banking and innovation arm, will lead the fund. RBC will contribute up to $416 million, with the rest coming from investors.
- Power Sustainable plans to invest more than $10 billion in Canadian projects and companies over the next five years. It will invest the money across its infrastructure equity, infrastructure credit, clean energy and industrial private equity and agri-food private equity strategies.
This story will be updated.
