Canada tells UAE it's not ready for its C$70-billion investment
Canada has told the United Arab Emirates that it is not yet ready to absorb the C$70-billion (roughly US$49-billion) investment the Gulf state pledged in 2025, according to a report in the Financial Times that has drawn attention in Ottawa and across the Gulf.
At a meeting in mid-June 2026, Canada's newly created Major Projects Office informed a UAE delegation that it was too early to inject the capital because the country did not yet have enough projects ready for deployment, the Financial Times reported, citing three Canadian officials (as summarized by The Deep Dive). "None of that has been deployed," one official said of the pledge.
The commitment dates back to November 2025, when the UAE announced plans to invest C$70 billion in Canada during Prime Minister Mark Carney's first official visit to the country. The money was earmarked for critical minerals, energy, ports and artificial intelligence — sectors Ottawa has placed at the centre of its economic strategy.
Jean Charest, the former Quebec premier who co-chairs the UAE–Canada Business Council, described the response as unavoidable, saying the Major Projects Office had simply told the Emiratis that Canada was not ready — the same message, he added, that other prospective investors have been receiving.
Analysts have described the situation as a capital-absorption gap: foreign investors are willing to commit, but Canada's pipeline of shovel-ready major projects has not kept pace. The federal government has said it wants to unlock roughly C$1 trillion in new investment over five years.
Why this matters for newcomers and prospective immigrants
The Financial Times report does not address immigration, and no policy change flows from it. But the story is worth watching for anyone planning a move to Canada. Large-scale investment in critical minerals, energy, ports and AI is exactly the kind of activity that, over time, lifts demand for skilled workers — the same demand that informs Canada's labour-market planning, its category-based Express Entry draws, and Provincial Nominee Program allocations in resource-rich provinces. A slower rollout of these projects could mean the associated job creation arrives later than the headline numbers imply.
It is also a reminder that the Canada–UAE relationship reaches well beyond capital. The Gulf is home to a large community of skilled professionals — many originally from South Asia — who see Canada as a long-term destination, and the diplomatic and commercial ties between the two countries feed directly into that flow of talent.
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Original reporting: thedeepdive.ca