Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. – Photo by Daniel Pereira, courtesy of the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada
In mid-September, 100 of the world’s largest investment firms and sovereign wealth funds will be in Toronto to hear a pitch from the federal government.
The first Canada Investment Summit runs September 14-15, co-hosted with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board, with a goal of attracting $1 trillion in investment over five years into energy, critical minerals, and infrastructure.
Energy sits at the center of the case Canada is making, and so does the trend the government is trying to reverse.
RBC has called the past decade the largest capital exodus in Canadian history, with more than $1 trillion in investment leaving the country between 2015 and 2024. RBC points to regulatory burden, permitting delays, and policy uncertainty as the reasons capital went elsewhere.
The same analysis puts oil and gas at the top of the list of where new investment could go, at $705 billion over the next 10 years, which is more than any other sector RBC examined.
That question of whether Canada can convert interest into committed capital is one we have been raising for some time. In CPW’s 2026 national research, 70 per cent of engaged women across the country support accelerating regulatory processes to attract capital back to Canada, and 86 per cent told us they believe a strong energy sector is the foundation of Canada’s economic stability
Ottawa asked industry, provinces and Indigenous communities this spring for input on changes to how major projects get approved, including faster reviews and a single federal decision, but that process closed on July 22 and the government has not yet reported back on what it heard or its plans to introduce anything in Parliament. Investors in September will be assessing the rules as they stand today against changes that are still proposals.
September is Canada’s opportunity to convince global investors to start betting on the country again.