Carney names Dominic Barton as chair of Invest in Canada in major shakeup ahead of Toronto investment summit

Prime Minister Mark Carney has named Dominic Barton, the former Canadian ambassador to China and ex-global managing partner of McKinsey & Co., as chair of the board of directors of Invest in Canada, the federal agency responsible for attracting foreign investment to the country.

The appointment, announced Monday by the Prime Minister's Office, is part of a leadership overhaul at the agency that also sees private equity executive Gurinder Grewal take over as chief executive officer. The changes come roughly two weeks before Carney's inaugural Canada Investment Summit, scheduled for Sept. 14-15 in Toronto, where he plans to assemble foreign investors and heads of major domestic funds to pitch them on Canadian projects.

Barton will serve as chair for a three-year term on a part-time basis. He is known in China as Bao Damin and brings a blend of diplomatic and corporate experience to the role, having led McKinsey through a period of global expansion before serving as Ottawa's envoy in Beijing from 2019 to 2021.

A new leadership team for a more ambitious mandate

Grewal, founder and managing partner of MEM Growth Partners, steps into the CEO role with a background in deploying capital across the energy, industrial, infrastructure and technology sectors. In announcing the appointment, Carney touted Grewal's experience with "putting capital to work" in those fields, signalling the government's intention to focus on tangible investment outcomes rather than promotional activity.

The appointments replace chief executive Laurel Broten, a former Ontario cabinet minister, who is resigning. Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for the federal investment agency, said he accepted her resignation. Outgoing chair Karl Tabbakh will remain on the board of Invest in Canada to support the transition. Tabbakh served a three-year term and helped guide the agency through a period of significant global disruption, strengthening its role in attracting and facilitating major investments.

Carney said in a statement: "Dominic Barton and Gurinder Grewal have the experience and ambition Canada needs."

The Prime Minister's Office said Invest in Canada is expected to take on a "new, more ambitious" role in helping Ottawa reach its goal to attract $500-billion in new private-sector capital and $1-trillion of total investment in Canada over five years. Those figures represent a substantial escalation from the agency's previous targets and suggest the government is positioning Invest in Canada as a central pillar of its economic growth strategy.

Context: an agency built for a different era

Invest in Canada was created to promote Canada as a destination for foreign direct investment, operating as a federal Crown corporation with a mandate to attract, facilitate and retain investment from abroad. The agency has historically worked alongside provincial investment offices and sector-specific organisations, but its profile has been relatively modest compared to similar bodies in other G7 countries.

The leadership shakeup signals a desire to change that. By bringing in Barton, who has deep relationships with corporate leaders in Asia and North America, and Grewal, who has hands-on experience in private equity, the government appears to be shifting the agency's focus from marketing toward deal-making.

The timing is deliberate. The Canada Investment Summit is a marquee event for the government's economic agenda, aimed at drawing top chief executives and business leaders from some of the world's largest investors. Carney has made foreign investment a cornerstone of his economic platform, arguing that Canada needs to be more competitive in attracting capital for major projects in energy, infrastructure, technology and natural resources.

The summit comes at a moment when global investment flows are being reshaped by geopolitical tensions, supply chain realignments and the energy transition. Canada's vast natural resources, stable banking system and skilled workforce are often cited as advantages, but the country has historically struggled to convert those assets into investment at the scale seen in the United States or parts of Europe.

Political backdrop: a busy week for the Liberals

The appointments landed on the same day the federal Liberals swept all three federal byelections held Monday in Toronto, Chicoutimi and North Vancouver-Capilano. The results give the government a measure of political momentum heading into the summit, though the byelections were widely expected to favour the Liberals in those ridings.

The convergence of the byelection results and the Invest in Canada announcement underscores the political importance Carney is attaching to the investment file. The summit is not merely an economic event; it is a platform for the government to demonstrate competence on an issue that polls consistently show matters to Canadians: the cost of living, job creation and economic growth.

Foreign direct investment performance and Canada's competitiveness are recurring themes in federal economic policy debates. Critics have argued that Canada has fallen behind in attracting investment compared to the United States, particularly in sectors like clean technology and manufacturing, where incentive packages south of the border have drawn capital away. The government's response has been to argue that its investment targets and the summit represent a serious, co-ordinated effort to reverse that trend.

What Barton and Grewal bring to the table

Barton's appointment is notable for several reasons. His tenure as ambassador to China from 2019 to 2021 coincided with a period of heightened tension between Ottawa and Beijing, including the diplomatic dispute over the detention of two Canadians. His familiarity with Chinese markets and political dynamics could prove valuable as Canada seeks to diversify its trade and investment relationships while managing its largest bilateral relationship in Asia.

His background at McKinsey, where he served as global managing partner from 2009 to 2018, gives him credibility with the kind of institutional investors and multinational corporations that the summit is designed to attract. Barton has also written extensively on long-term capitalism and corporate governance, themes that align with the government's emphasis on sustainable investment.

Grewal's appointment signals a more operational focus. As a private equity executive, he has spent his career evaluating deals, structuring investments and working with portfolio companies to improve performance. That experience is directly relevant to the task of helping foreign investors navigate Canadian regulatory processes, identify opportunities and close transactions.

The combination of Barton's network and Grewal's operational expertise suggests the government is trying to build an agency that can function less like a promotional body and more like an investment bank with a public policy mandate.

Challenges ahead: execution and expectations

The ambitious targets set out by the Prime Minister's Office — $500-billion in new private-sector capital and $1-trillion of total investment over five years — will require more than leadership changes. They will require a co-ordinated approach across federal departments, provincial governments and the private sector, as well as a regulatory environment that is perceived as welcoming to investors.

Canada's investment climate has faced scrutiny in recent years over project approval timelines, interprovincial trade barriers and tax competitiveness. The government has taken steps to address some of these issues, including streamlining major project reviews and working with provinces to reduce internal trade friction, but progress has been uneven.

The summit itself will be a test of whether the government can translate rhetoric into commitments. Organisers have said they expect attendance from senior executives at some of the world's largest pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and corporate investors. Whether those attendees arrive with chequebooks or simply with curiosity remains to be seen.

There is also the question of how Invest in Canada's new leadership will interact with existing federal institutions. The agency operates alongside the Department of Finance, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, and the Trade Commissioner Service, each of which has its own mandates and priorities. Co-ordinating those efforts will be one of Grewal's first and most important tasks.

Looking forward: what to watch at the summit

The Canada Investment Summit, scheduled for Sept. 14-15 in Toronto, will be the first major public test of the new leadership team. Carney is expected to use the event to pitch specific projects to investors, potentially including initiatives in critical minerals, clean energy, transportation infrastructure and housing.

Observers will be watching for several signals: whether the government announces anchor investments during the summit, whether foreign investors make concrete commitments, and whether the event produces a framework for ongoing engagement between Ottawa and the investment community.

The appointments of Barton and Grewal are a statement of intent, but they are not a guarantee of outcomes. The government has set ambitious goals and assembled a leadership team with the credentials to pursue them. Whether those goals are achievable will depend on factors largely beyond the control of any single agency: global economic conditions, interest rates, geopolitical stability and the competitiveness of Canada's investment climate relative to other destinations.

For now, the government is projecting confidence. The byelection results provide a political tailwind, and the summit offers a high-profile stage. The next few weeks will reveal whether the new team at Invest in Canada can turn ambition into action.

Tags: Dominic Barton, Invest in Canada, Mark Carney, foreign investment, Canada Investment Summit, Gurinder Grewal, economic policy, trade, Toronto, federal politics

By Alex Thompson, Staff Writer

This article was produced with AI-assisted research and editorial support. Sources: The Canadian Press, Global News, CBC News, The Globe and Mail, Prime Minister's Office news release.