Leaders representing over $100 trillion in capital will attend the Canada Investment Summit at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto this week.
The summit comes amid the ongoing trade dispute with the U.S. It aims to attract investment in nation-building projects, create jobs, and grow the economy. It is part of the federal government’s goal to attract $1 trillion in investment over five years.
The federal government is co-hosting the event with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP Investments). Both belong to the “Maple 8,” a group of major Canadian pension funds collectively managing more than $2.7 trillion in assets.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to take centre stage alongside cabinet ministers, business leaders, and premiers from across Canada to pitch 167 projects available for investment, outlined in a 66-page prospectus.
Dan Cohen, an economic geographer at Queen’s who studies how financial markets shape communities and how public money subsidizes private investment, wrote in an email to The Journal that the summit seeks to attract capital from institutional investors in Canada and abroad, including the Maple 8.
Projects span established sectors, core infrastructure needs, and growth priorities, he wrote. The list includes high-speed rail, port expansions, nuclear power plants, data centres, manufacturing, mining, liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, and oil pipelines.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford released ‘Ontario’s Deal Book’ highlighting 15 investment opportunities ahead of the summit, including a proposed nuclear power plant in Port Hope, critical minerals exploration in the Ring of Fire, and an industrial redevelopment along Hamilton Harbour envisioning AI and data centres, despite city council’s rejection of the data centre proposal in June.
The summit has drawn criticism, with more than a thousand protesters gathering in downtown Toronto on Monday night.
“It has largely been the environmental sector raising concerns about the promotion of fossil fuel projects and especially pipelines,” Cohen wrote.
Another major concern for protestors is privatization.
“The Liberal government prior to Prime Minister Carney, and since his election, have long been interested in ‘blended finance’ approaches where public money is used to subsidize private investment in areas they feel are of strategic interest,” Cohen stated.
The Canada Infrastructure Bank and Canada Growth Fund have committed billions to “de-risking” approaches, using public money to reduce financial risks for private investors.
“In their first budget, the Carney administration signaled they would go a step further than de-risking new investment and into the outright sale of existing infrastructure,” Cohen wrote.
This would be through “asset optimisation,” more commonly known as “asset recycling.”
Both refer to projects where “public infrastructure is either sold off, or its revenues are turned into an asset stream for investors,” with most reporting focusing on airports, Cohen stated.
Airports were not listed among the projects available for investment at the summit, but Cohen pointed to a recent article in The Breach highlighting a passage in the document about infrastructure ownership.
The articled noted that the federal government said they were “exploring new models of infrastructure ownership and investment,” including plans to “maximize the full value and economic potential of Canada’s airports.”
Cohen stated that the wording points to the government’s continued interest in privatizing airports.
“I don’t think there’s anything in this summit that suggests they are no longer looking to privatize public infrastructure,” he wrote.
Cohen stated that past examples show that privatization can have substantial consequences, limiting a city’s control over its infrastructure. As well, he noted that privatizing public services and infrastructure can also result in poorer service as investors cut costs to maximize income.
Investment itself, though, could yield significant benefits.
“A trillion in investment would mean a lot of new jobs created and the rollout of new infrastructure and hopefully increased economic competitiveness,” he stated.
However, “the devil will be in the details” for infrastructure investments including how projects are financed, who bears the risk, and who controls the infrastructure.
For young Canadians, investments in these projects “will shape the future direction of the country.”
“Whether the sectors and projects being promoted build the type of country that young Canadians want to live in, is something for them to judge for themselves,” he wrote.
Tags
airport, fossil fuels, Mark Carney, pipelines, privatization, summit
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