Ottawa offers faster access to tax rulings as Carney kicks off investment summit

OTTAWA – Ottawa is tweaking tax policy to make Canada more attractive to international investors just as Prime Minister Mark Carney is welcoming scores of global asset managers to Toronto.

The federal government said in a press release Monday that investors putting $1 billion or more into the Canadian economy will now get priority access to a program that offers binding decisions from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Through the existing Advance Income Tax Rulings (AITR) program, qualifying investors can get clarity on how income tax law will apply before they commit capital.

“When investors are considering major projects, certainty matters,” Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a media statement.

“By prioritizing advance tax rulings for investments of $1 billion or more, we are giving them the clarity and predictability they need to invest with confidence, create opportunities and help build Canada’s economic future.”

Canada is attempting to improve its reputation in the eyes of investors after years of stagnant business investment.

Carney has set a lofty goal of attracting $1 trillion in investment over the next five years and has reoriented federal spending priorities to focus on critical infrastructure and other major projects.

Hundreds of executives and global asset managers descended on Toronto on Monday for Canada’s first-ever investment summit. Carney, his ministers and premiers from across the country will be pitching investors on opportunities in multiple sectors, including energy, critical minerals and defence, over the next two days.

Canadian officials and business leaders are meeting with would-be investors in closed-door meetings throughout the day Monday. Later in the day, they’ll convene at the Art Gallery of Ontario for a gala dinner that is closed to the public and the media.

On Tuesday, attendees will huddle at the downtown Four Seasons Hotel for presentations on Canada’s investment landscape.

A source with knowledge of the planned events, who is not authorized to speak publicly about them, told The Canadian Press that former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper will deliver closing remarks at the summit. Harper is also the board chair at AIMCo, the Alberta pension plan’s investment arm.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a social media post Monday that Canada would be attracting more investment right now if not for federal policies that add costs and delays to proposed projects.

He accused Carney of failing to deliver for Canadians over his first year and a half in office.

“Speeches, summits and symbolic signing ceremonies do not grow the economy, or pay people’s mortgages and groceries. That takes results,” Poilievre said.

Speaking to Canadian business leaders and politicians at a reception Sunday evening, Carney suggested a number of deals already have been signed.

“We have what the world wants, the energy, the resources, the talent, the technology and the capital,” Carney said.

“And our greatest strength is something that cannot be found on any balance sheet — trust,” he added in an apparent jab at U.S. President Donald Trump.

Carney is set to make an announcement about an investment in “data sovereignty” alongside Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe later in the day Monday.

Demonstrators, including representatives of labour unions, Indigenous leaders and climate and housing advocates, are expected to assemble at Nathan Phillips Square Monday before marching through the downtown.

Protest organizers say they reject the idea of leaving Canada’s economic future in the hands of CEOs and they worry about the future of public services, pipelines and arms manufacturing.

Speaking in Toronto on Monday, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks said Carney has used Trump’s trade war to build momentum behind his major projects push.

“Canada is getting very good at blackmailing the public,” he said, citing the prime minister saying Canada needs to build more major projects to protect itself from predatory U.S. trade policy.

“That’s their story. Their story is false, the same way that they think that these projects will go on without your support, without our support.”

The summit is expected to attract the heads of some of the world’s largest asset managers, including BlackRock CEO and chairman Larry Fink and Blackstone president Jon Gray.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has hinted the global guest list includes representatives from Kuwait, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, Qatar, Norway, Japan and Australia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2026.

— with files from David Baxter and Alessia Passafiume in Ottawa and Kathryn Mannie in Toronto