"We have what the world wants. The energy, the resources, the talent, the technology and the capital. And our greatest strength is something that cannot be found on any balance sheet: trust," Carney said Sunday. Photo by Gavin Young/Postmedia

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Prime Minister Mark Carney touted a “new, powerful, confident, united Canada” to a room full of business leaders at a reception Sunday evening ahead of the inaugural Canada Investment Summit, which will bring some of the most powerful global asset managers to Toronto this week.

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“Tomorrow, something remarkable will happen. The world’s largest investors, managing over $120 trillion dollars of assets, will come to ‘peer into our shop window’ because the world is looking at Canada differently,” he told the audience at the Royal Ontario Museum.

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“We have what the world wants. The energy, the resources, the talent, the technology and the capital. And our greatest strength is something that cannot be found on any balance sheet: trust.”

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The invitation-only two-day summit, at which the government intends to showcase Canadian investing opportunities to a select group of the world’s top pension and sovereign wealth funds, kicks off with a private gala dinner Monday evening in Toronto.

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Carney’s government has pledged to generate $1-trillion in investment in nation-building infrastructure projects, “catalyzed” by government spending but largely funded by the private sector. His government hopes fund managers coming from as far abroad as Australia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia — as well as from the United States — will see the merit in infrastructure projects such as pipelines, ports and transportation networks and to seek to capitalize on opportunities in Canada’s resource sector, from energy to critical minerals.

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On Monday, Carney is scheduled to meet with Shemara Wikramanayake, the chief executive officer of Australia-based asset manager Macquarie Group Ltd., and then with Dilhan Pillay, chief executive of Temasek Holdings Ltd., the Singaporean state-owned investment fund that manages more than $560 billion in assets.

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On Tuesday, Canadian company CEOs, investment professionals and government officials will gather at the Four Seasons Hotel in midtown Toronto. There, they will participate in a day of fireside chats, panels and investment discussions, as well as one-on-one private meetings where discussions of private mandates can take place.

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Speakers are expected to include Carney himself, along with Deb Orida, CEO of the Public Sector Plan Investment Board, a co-host of the event. John Graham, CEO of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the other co-host of the summit, will also be speaking on Tuesday.

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Canada will be pitching a number of deals to international investors, including some being fast-tracked through the Major Projects Office.

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There is a possibility large deals will be announced during the summit, but Orida said in an interview last week that she expects the real measure of its success will come in the weeks and months ahead.

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Last week, Orida said PSP expects to boost investments in Canada by 30 per cent to 40 per cent over the next few years and surpass $100 billion invested at home.

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The next day, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board CEO Jo Taylor committed to invest an additional $10 billion in Canadian public and private markets by the end of 2027.

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