President and CEO of Bell Canada Mirko Bibic, left, Prime Minister Mark Carney, centre, and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe speak following an announcement ahead of the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, on Monday.Arlyn McAdorey/Reuters
Provincial premiers hustled to capitalize on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, holding a flurry of back-to-back meetings ahead of the event’s formal start in a bid to court capital for projects.
For New Brunswick and British Columbia, the effort went beyond bilateral talks.
Both provinces have mobile promotional billboards circling Toronto’s exclusive Yorkville neighbourhood. There, hotel rooms, coffee shops, restaurants and even park benches are sites of high-stakes discussions between investment bankers, sovereign wealth fund leaders, venture capitalists, Canadian executives, politicians, civil servants and others trying to unleash a flow of private capital into Canada.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt and her Natural Resources Minister, John Herron, are in Toronto to promote what the province described as more than $30-billion in capital investment opportunities.
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Some of the plans the province listed in a news release include mining projects, a Belledune port expansion and a Lorneville data centre.
Saskatchewan hosted its own booster event on Monday, with Premier Scott Moe thanking Mr. Carney for giving the country a chance to show off.
“We are at a time when the world is so very uncertain,” he said. “Canada and Saskatchewan are not.”
At the Invest in Saskatchewan Forum, Mr. Moe and BCE Inc. announced plans to quadruple the company’s investment in artificial-intelligence data centres in the province. The Premier said the days ahead will showcase more opportunities to invest in Saskatchewan.
Though the officials organizing the summit have pulled together a prospectus of more than 160 projects in various stages of development that are open for investment, premiers are carting around lists specific to their backyards to make a more personal case for direct investment.
Bell Canada aims to quadruple capacity of data centre operations in Saskatchewan
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew pitched investors on plans for a major expansion of the Port of Churchill. He spoke to the Canadian Global Growth Forum, a side event Monday organized by the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.
In his brief speech, Mr. Kinew said Manitoba will offer a provincial sales tax exemption on major capital investments related to what his government calls the Port of Churchill Plus project.
“We’re willing to do the deal-making to make this thing happen,” he said.
Given the shortened shipping season in the north, the proposed expansion of the existing port would require the use of icebreakers in Hudson Bay to extend the season, as well as an upgraded rail line and a new energy corridor.
In February, the federal government announced a market-sounding study to gather industry input on the project’s potential.
Ottawa wants LNG to be shipped from Port of Churchill by 2030, Manitoba Premier says
A copy of British Columbia’s deal book viewed by The Globe and Mail largely covers the same projects as the broader federal package, including the Ksi Lisims LNG project, port infrastructure, and gold and copper mines.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford did not speak publicly on Monday at any of the various events in his province’s capital city.
But his government released its own list of 15 priority projects just ahead of the summit. The list highlights several nuclear energy expansion projects as well as mining opportunities in Ontario’s northern Ring of Fire region. It also includes investment in Toronto-based AI company Cohere Inc.
Quebec, whose current government is at risk of losing power in next month’s provincial election, is taking a less promotional approach at the summit.
Premier and Coalition Avenir Québec Leader Christine Fréchette took a pass on the event in order to prepare for the campaign’s first debate on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Eric Girard is representing Quebec in Toronto this week. In an interview, he said Quebec supports the calls for more private-sector investment, but he will not be endorsing specific projects.
“Maybe because I’m not premier, maybe because there’s an election, I’m not taking the same posture that the Premier of Manitoba is taking,” he said, adding that he was filling ”more of a quiet, efficient role.”
While the federal government’s prospectus includes several projects in Quebec, Mr. Girard said that doesn’t mean that they all have the province’s support.
“These are private projects, with private promoters, that are being pitched to international investors,” he said.