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FDI Report 2023 Methodology

The data story on foreign direct investment (FDI) for 2023 includes two major components:

Actual FDI: Statistics Canada facts and figures related to global investment in Canada on actual foreign direct investment that either:

  • has flowed into Canada or

  • represents an international investment position during a specific period of time

FDI activity: Information on past and potential future FDI opportunities sourced from:

  • fDi Markets, which tracks announced FDI projects or greenfield projects

  • PitchBook, which tracks announced, in progress, in bidding process, upcoming or completed cross-border M&A investments

Data for actual foreign investments and projected foreign investment opportunities is organized by calendar year. All dollar figures provided are in Canadian dollars (converted directly from the Bank of Canada’s daily exchange rates on June 3, 2024) unless otherwise stated. All figures are rounded to the nearest tenth.

CONTEXT

Statistics Canada’s balance of international payments data for FDI flows provide actual FDI data for Canada. These are foreign investment dollars that have been confirmed to have flowed into the country. However, a key limitation of these numbers is that they do not provide information on a company or at a provincial level.

To address this limitation, fDi Markets and PitchBook subscription tools were used to provide more detailed insights on FDI activity in Canada. These tools compile foreign investment announcements, including more information on global companies announcing their intentions to invest in Canada, and the provincial destinations of these announcements.

  • fDi Markets provides a database of announced FDI projects: cross-border investments to set up a new physical operation or expand an existing operation

  • PitchBook provides information on announced cross-border M&A investments

ACTUAL FDI

Data on foreign investments from Statistics Canada for 2023 was retrieved on June 3, 2024 from the following tables, which are updated quarterly and annually:

There are certain limitations to this data. For instance:

  • provincial breakdowns of FDI flows and FDI by ultimate investor country (UIC) do not exist across the three tables

  • the industries table only features six industry categories

Note that FDI statistics on a UIC basis do not exist for the FDI flows measure. These numbers exist for FDI stock, a measure that illustrates the total accumulated value of FDI at a particular point in time. Statistics Canada’s presentation of 2023 FDI stock on a UIC basis presents the source countries that have directly invested in Canada and, therefore, ultimately own the total investments that are in Canada to date as of the end of 2023.

The change in foreign direct investment by ultimate investor country between 2022 and 2023 has been used as a stand-in for measuring Canada’s 2023 balance of international payments on a UIC basis. Statistics Canada’s FDI by UIC measurement provides data on a greater number of countries and aims to identify the ultimate source country for investments, as opposed to countries acting on a flow-through basis for investments into Canada. For the purposes of this report, the change in FDI by UIC is referred to as “change in FDI” and should not be interpreted as equivalent to the “total net FDI flows” values provided by Canada’s balance of international payments data.

Year-over-year comparisons provided in the FDI Report 2023 are based on the latest available data at the time of data retrieval. This includes total net FDI flows into Canada and other Statistics Canada, and reported data from fDi Markets and PitchBook.


 

FDI ACTIVITY

FDI activity data for 2023, which represents investments from global companies investing in Canada, was retrieved on June 3, 2024. This data on announced investments is composed of two parts:

  • FDI projects, which are announced cross-border investments to set up a new physical operation or expand an existing investment

  • Announced cross-border M&A investments

FDI projects data is sourced from fDi Markets, and M&A investments data is sourced from PitchBook. The original source for most FDI projects and M&As, amalgamated by both tools, is company press releases.

This data is further segmented by source country (including a breakdown of non-traditional countries which have not historically sent FDI into Canada), project or deal category, and industry. The data provides details on projected investment amounts to varying degrees, depending on whether the FDI announcement is for an FDI project or an M&A deal. Specifically, for announced FDI projects, fDi Markets provides projected investment amounts, referred to as capital expenditures (CAPEX), which includes estimated values when not initially disclosed. For announced M&As, investment amounts are provided when they are disclosed publicly by the acquiring company.

One key limitation of this data is that projected FDI opportunities come from external announcements, which are not necessarily confirmed investments. An announced FDI project could take several years to materialize into a confirmed FDI project, assuming it moves forward. Similarly, an announced M&A deal may take a few years to materialize, and the investment announcement may be split over different reporting periods.

This data is intended to provide a pipeline of potential future global investment opportunities in Canada rather than a complete and accurate picture of job and dollar amounts.

SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS

Our analysis deems projects ‘sustainable’ if they maintain alignment with the Government of Canada guidelines for the Canada Green Bond Framework. Green or ‘sustainable’ projects include: 

  • Clean transportation
  • Living natural resources and land use
  • Energy efficiency
  • Terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity
  • Clean energy, including nuclear
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Sustainable water and wastewater management
  • Circular economy-adapted products, production, technologies and processes
  • Pollution prevention and control