Prime Minister Mark Carney makes the keynote speech for the Canada Investment Summit at The Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Tuesday September 15, 2026. Photo by Peter J. Thompson/National Post

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Nearly $500 billion in new investment has been committed at the Canada Investment Summit as the federal government said it is seeking private investments for the country’s airports, making major tax-related announcements and making changes that may speed up the permitting processes for key economic projects.

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Prime Minister Mark Carney kicked the day off by announcing that Canada will seek financing to operate the country’s four biggest airports — Toronto Pearson, Vancouver International, Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International and Calgary International — and use the capital raised to reinvest in other priorities.

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“Canadian pension funds already invest successfully in many airports around the world. It is time to bring that same expertise home to more directly benefit all Canadians,” he said.

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Ottawa also made a major tax announcement on expanding a tax write-off program for capital investment, cutting one of Canada’s tax rates to among the lowest in the world.

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In the last budget, the government introduced a “productivity super-deduction” so that businesses can immediately deduct 100 per cent of the cost of eligible new investments, such as machinery, equipment, and technology.

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Carney said this tax incentive will now be increased to more than 65 per cent of assets, including fibre-optic cable, mining property and oil and gas pipelines, from roughly 15 per cent.

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As a result, the marginal effective tax rate on new business investment will fall to 6.4 per cent from roughly 13 per cent, which the government said it makes it the lowest of any major economy in the world and less than half the rate in the United States.

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Royal Bank of Canada chief executive Dave McKay said the move was very consequential.

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“I feel a renewed interest in Canada for sure,” he said at the summit. “The feedback I’m hearing is there’s a consistency of message between the prime minister and his team, the premiers and their teams and CEOs. We’re pulling in the same direction. That hasn’t happened in a long time. We just have to get it done now and, as you heard, time kills deals.”

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Carney said Ottawa will look to make legislative changes to speed up reviews of potential projects, like it has done for the roughly two dozen projects under the Major Projects Office.

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“We’re now going to apply the same urgency and efficiency focus more broadly through the New Build Canada Strong Act, for projects and supply, our standard will be simple: one project, one review, one year,” he said at a press conference.

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Jonathan Price, chief executive of Teck Resources Ltd., said he welcomed Carney’s comments and said the government has been more pragmatic when it comes to approving key projects in Canada.

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“It’s really the mindset of government that has changed here,” he said at a separate event at the summit.

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Despite the planned cut in approval times. Price said the miner won’t take any shortcuts and will ensure the environment is not impacted because of its projects.