As downtown Toronto fills with industry leaders and celebrities for both the Investment Summit and the Toronto International Film Festival… we’re out here in Ottawa. This is what we got.

Ottawa says investors putting $1 billion or more into the Canadian economy will now get priority access to a program that offers binding decisions from the Canada Revenue Agency.

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne’s office made the announcement today as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepared to welcome investors from around the world to a high-stakes investment summit.

A government press release says that through the Advance Income Tax Rulings (AITR) program, qualifying investors can get binding decisions from the CRA on how income tax law will apply before they commit capital.

The government says the new policy will reduce risks and give investors the confidence they need to move major projects forward.

The Canadian Press has more. 

Bouwinvest CEO Mark Siezen told iPolitics on Monday that his invitation to the summit in Toronto indicates there’s interest in the proposal and he’s hopeful that he can provide the “final little nudge” that leads to an agreement.

“Maybe I’m naive, but I’m definitely optimistic that the messages that we’ve been consistently bringing across over the last 12 months have reached the right people at he right place who can make those kinds of decisions,” he said in an interview.

“The fact that a somewhat like this is being organized does make you optimistic. You realize these people are very serious about creating an investment environment that’s going to be attractive for international capital to come in and and be successful and to contribute.”

Marco Vigliotti has more. 

The decision by the Bureau comes ahead of Carney’s address in Brussels on Thursday, and is intended to strengthen parliamentary relations between Canada and the EU.

The move also comes as the Wall Street Journal reports that Carney is exploring whether Canada could become an “associate member” of the bloc, a potential arrangement that could included discussions around allowing Canadian and EU citizens to live and work across each other’s borders more freely.

Carney threw cold water on the plan on Sunday, saying Canada was planning to discuss a “unique alliance” with the EU, but not associate membership.

Stéphane Dion, Canada’s former special envoy to the European Union, said closer political ties with Europe could play a key role in Carney’s push to diversify Canadian trade, but cautioned against viewing the continent as a replacement for the United States.

Sydney Ko reports. 

In Other Headlines

Internationally

Elsewhere, President Trump downplayed concerns that AI could go rogue after several leaders in the tech industry called for putting the brakes on its development.

Speaking to reporters at his Doonbeg golf resort in Ireland, the president said the dire warnings about AI were exaggerated and that “negative forces” are making claims about things that won’t happen.

“We’re leading China in AI, we’re the most sophisticated country in the world, and frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI, wins,” Trump said. “And we can put guardrails, we can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of negative forces that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up.”