FREDERICTON – New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt is spending this week in Toronto making the case for investment in her province, meeting with senior business figures as her government seeks to attract billions of dollars in new capital.
Hundreds of executives and global asset managers arrived in Toronto on Monday for Canada’s first-ever national investment summit. Holt is among the provincial leaders hoping to convince some of those investors to direct capital toward projects in New Brunswick.
The provincial Liberal government is presenting eight projects to investors, including a new nuclear development, the Sisson Mine, a proposed data centre, an expansion of the Port of Belledune and four other major initiatives.
Together, the eight projects represent approximately $30 billion in potential capital investment in New Brunswick, according to government officials. They also highlight opportunities in sectors considered important to Canada’s economic and industrial future.
Holt is promoting the province during a series of closed-door meetings with prospective investors. While international investors are a major presence at the summit, the premier said domestic financial institutions and companies could also become important partners.
One of those potential partners is Bank of Montreal Financial Group CEO Darryl White.
“We’re talking about the kind of growth that New Brunswick is seeing and making sure that he’s aware of the kind of mineral assets that we’re developing,” Holt told The Canadian Press by phone.
The discussions come as Holt’s government works to revive New Brunswick’s mining sector, which was once a major part of the Maritime province’s economy. The effort takes on added significance as Canada and its allies seek secure and trusted supplies of minerals needed for semiconductors, batteries and a range of everyday products.
“They have capital that we’d like to see deployed towards some of these projects. And we learn more about what kinds of things they like to invest in, what kind of businesses (and) what kind of projects,” Holt said.
The premier explained that the initial meetings are intended to establish connections that can later lead to more detailed discussions. Once a potential investor has been identified, her team can connect that investor with the relevant government department or private company involved in a particular project, including the planned Port of Belledune expansion.
“The team at Opportunities New Brunswick and I follow up on those and continue the work to grow our economy (and) produce the kind of good-paying jobs that New Brunswickers are looking for.”
Canada is holding the investment summit as the federal government tries to improve the country’s image among investors following years of weak business investment. The gathering is also taking place against the backdrop of an unpredictable trade dispute with the United States.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has established an ambitious objective of attracting $1 trillion in investment over the next five years. His government has also shifted federal spending priorities toward critical infrastructure and other major projects.
However, Herb Emery, chair of the political science department at the University of New Brunswick, described the summit as “great political theatre,” arguing that it demonstrates an effort to present a coordinated national approach to attracting investment.
“It does advertise and aggregate the range of opportunities that the world could be looking at in Canada,” Emery said in an interview Monday afternoon.
“But it doesn’t get around our fundamental problem, which is for over a decade Canada has been seen as a poor return place to invest.”
Emery also questioned why Holt and her government need to take such an active role in marketing New Brunswick’s projects if the province’s energy and mineral opportunities are as attractive as officials claim.
For Holt, however, political and institutional stability is itself part of the proposition being presented to investors.
She said investors need confidence that a jurisdiction will remain reliable over the long term.
“Evaluating the political stability of a country, of a province and of a project is a piece of investors’ due diligence, and this is where Canada shines and where New Brunswick shines as well,” she said.
“We know how to develop resources in this province and this country, and we can show that we’ve had the kind of political stability … that is attractive to investors.”
Even a significant injection of public and private capital into New Brunswick’s large-scale energy and resource projects may not, however, produce the economic impact taxpayers are expecting, Emery warned.
“These projects would generate GDP too far down the road,” he said.
“And the growth that it would generate isn’t enough to close the hole that they’ve created with the spending,” he added, referring to New Brunswick’s budget deficits.
The eight projects selected by the provincial government are part of the broader group of investment opportunities being promoted by Canada at the Toronto summit.
Holt does not expect an immediate announcement of a major deal. She characterized Monday’s and Tuesday’s meetings instead as “first connection points” designed to determine whether prospective investors and New Brunswick projects are a suitable match.
“Our ultimate goal is to get investment into our key projects and to do so in the near term,” she said.
“And we’ll certainly be sharing with New Brunswickers the outcomes and the successes from this effort.”
The premier is also scheduled to attend a private gala dinner at the Art Gallery of Ontario alongside roughly 100 other officials and investors. The event is closed to both the public and the media.
On Tuesday, summit participants are expected to gather at the downtown Four Seasons Hotel for presentations examining Canada’s investment landscape.
Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper is expected to deliver the summit’s closing remarks, according to a source familiar with the planned events.
