Carney Opens Canada’s First Investment Summit, Pitching $1-Trillion Vision to Global Capital

More than 160 projects and roughly 100 major investors are on the table in Toronto this week, but deals, if they come, could take over a year to close.

Prime Minister Mark Carney kicked off Canada’s first-ever Investment Summit in Toronto today, opening a two-day pitch to roughly 100 of the world’s largest investors, collectively managing more than $120 trillion in assets, including BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Blackstone’s Jon Gray, and Temasek’s Dilhan Pillay.

The summit, co-hosted with CPP Investments and PSP Investments, is built around more than 160 Canadian projects spanning transportation, mining, energy and technology. Ottawa is aiming to catalyze $1 trillion in total investment over five years, backed by roughly $280 billion in federal capital and incentives. Among the projects on the table: a quantum-computing expansion from Xanadu, an Alberta data-centre campus, the Crawford Nickel Project, and a proposed Calgary–Edmonton high-speed rail line seeking $900 million in financing.

The timing isn’t subtle. Canada is in the middle of an escalating trade war with the United States, and foreign direct investment has slipped to roughly $20 billion a quarter this year, down from $23 billion in 2024–25. Carney is framing the summit as Canada’s answer, proof the country can attract capital on its own terms, trade war or not.

The catch is patience. Officials and analysts both note that larger transactions arising from this week’s meetings could take 12 to 18 months to actually close. For now, this is a pitch meeting, a big one, not a signed deal.