Quebec courts foreign investors at summit to finance major projects
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
OTTAWA – Quebec is making its pitch to some of the world’s biggest investors, arguing its clean energy, manufacturing base and critical minerals put the province at the heart of Canada’s push to attract more private capital.
Finance Minister Eric Girard says “Quebec is at the centre of the transformation of the Canadian economy” as he represents the province at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto.
“We have a significant manufacturing sector. We have clean energy, we have expertise in defence. We have critical and strategic minerals,” Girard said in a phone interview with The Canadian Press.
The summit has brought together hundreds of business leaders, financial institutions, governments, project proponents and foreign investors.
Girard, who arrived in Toronto on Monday, said the international investors attending are the key part of the gathering.
“Here, you have representatives of private companies, financial intermediaries, major financial institutions, governments and project proponents, but the key element is the foreign investors who come here to study these projects,” he said.
Girard says Canada and Quebec face a shortfall in private investment — a problem he said predates both the current trade war and Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Investors attending the federally organized summit include BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, and will be presented with a range of Canadian and Quebec projects.
Girard said many of those projects require billions of dollars in investment.
“What these projects all have in common is that they are capital-intensive — they require a lot of capital — and there is also a lot of uncertainty about prices at the time these projects will be carried out,” he said.
Girard said the Quebec government is prepared to put public money into projects to help get them started, but its involvement should remain limited.
That makes private and foreign investment essential, he added, so private capital bears most of the risk on projects that are important to Quebec’s economy.
Major companies and institutions with a presence in Quebec are represented at the summit, including Bombardier, Desjardins and Rio Tinto.
Hydro-Québec CEO Claudine Bouchard and La Caisse president and CEO Charles Emond are also on the participant list, along with Rio Tinto chair and former Canadian ambassador to China Dominic Barton.
Girard said the gathering is unprecedented in its ability to bring together so many major international investors.
But he cautioned that its success won’t be known immediately, saying it could take two years to determine whether the summit ultimately delivers results.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 15, 2026.